The role of water vapor in climate. A strategic research plan for the proposed GEWEX water vapor project (GVaP)

The proposed GEWEX Water Vapor Project (GVaP) addresses fundamental deficiencies in the present understanding of moist atmospheric processes and the role of water vapor in the global hydrologic cycle and climate. Inadequate knowledge of the distribution of atmospheric water vapor and its transport is a major impediment to progress in achieving a fuller understanding of various hydrologic processes and a capability for reliable assessment of potential climatic change on global and regional scales. GVap will promote significant improvements in knowledge of atmospheric water vapor and moist processes as well as in present capabilities to model these processes on global and regional scales. GVaP complements a number of ongoing and planned programs focused on various aspects of the hydrologic cycle. The goal of GVaP is to improve understanding of the role of water vapor in meteorological, hydrological, and climatological processes through improved knowledge of water vapor and its variability on all scales. A detailed description of the GVaP is presented

Does the World Need U.S. Farmers Even if Americans Don’t?

We consider the implications of trends in the number of U.S. farmers and food imports on the question of what role U.S. farmers have in an increasingly global agrifood system. Our discussion stems from the argument some scholars have made that American consumers can import their food more cheaply from other countries than it can produce it. We consider the distinction between U.S. farmers and agriculture and the effect of the U.S. food footprint on developing nations to argue there might be an important role for U.S. farmers, even if it appears Americans don’t need them. For instance, we may need to protect U.S. farmland and, by implication, U.S. farmers, for future food security needs both domestic and international. We also explore the role of U.S. farmers by considering the question of whether food is a privilege or a right. Although Americans seem to accept that food is a privilege, many scholars and commentators argue that, at least on a global scale, food is a right, particularly for the world’s poor and hungry. If this is the case, then U.S. farmers might have a role in meeting the associated obligation to ensure that the poor of the world have enough food to eat. We look at the consequences of determining that food is a right versus a privilege and the implications of that decision for agricultural subsidies as well as U.S. agriculture and nutrition policies.Food Security and Poverty,