FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NOAA Scientist to Steer Multi-Nation Climate Adaptation Research Agenda as Director of Sixth National Climate Assessment
Appointment of Dr. Ariela Zycherman signals stronger federal focus on equity-centered, community-based resilience science across 30-plus partner countries.
Washington, D.C. – November 22, 2025
The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) today announced that NOAA environmental anthropologist Dr. Ariela Zycherman will direct the Sixth National Climate Assessment (NCA6), the United States’ most authoritative quadrennial report now being expanded into a de-facto coordination hub for climate-adaptation research across more than 30 nations.
Since 2000, the Assessment has synthesized domestic climate risks; under Zycherman’s leadership, NCA6 will—for the first time—formally embed reciprocal data-sharing protocols with counterpart assessments in the European Union, Australia, India, Japan, South Korea, South Africa, Brazil and several ASEAN member states. The move positions the U.S. at the center of an emerging “network of networks” that tracks adaptation progress in real time rather than every four years.
“Adaptation science must move at the speed of impacts, not bureaucracy,” Zycherman said. “By aligning indicators, social-science methods and equity metrics with global partners, we can convert local experiments into transferable, evidence-based solutions.”
Global economic losses from climate-related disasters reached US $380 billion in 2024, of which only 38 percent was insured, according to Swiss Re Institute estimates released last month. The IMF projects that without accelerated adaptation, climate-vulnerable nations could shed up to 7.5 percent of GDP annually by 2030. Against that backdrop, NCA6 will pilot a living “Adaptation Solutions Atlas” that links 150 sub-national case studies—from Rhode Island’s nature-based flood defenses to India’s Godavari River environmental-flow frameworks—into an open-source repository designed for policymakers, insurers and infrastructure investors.
Zycherman steps into the post after overseeing NOAA’s Climate Adaptation Partnerships (CAP) program, which funds place-based, interdisciplinary teams working with city managers, tribal governments and agricultural cooperatives. She also co-chaired the USGCRP Social Science Coordinating Committee, experience colleagues say will be critical as NCA6 integrates non-physical datasets—such as household livelihood surveys, land-tenure records and mental-health indicators—into traditional climate modeling.
“Dr. Zycherman’s appointment reflects a federal commitment to treat adaptation as a social, not just technical, challenge,” said Jainey K. Bavishi, Deputy NOAA Administrator and assistant secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere. “Her track record proves that when communities co-produce knowledge, implementation accelerates and costs drop.”
The Assessment’s expanded mandate coincides with a $77.8 million EPSCoR funding package announced in July 2024 that seeds collaborative adaptation research across 21 U.S. jurisdictions, many of which will feed data into NCA6’s international platform. Early partner countries have already pledged reciprocal access to their national climate-risk portals, creating a combined user base exceeding 4,000 governmental and non-governmental entities.
Work on NCA6 begins January 2026; a draft is scheduled for public review in early 2027, with final publication by December 2027. The report will underpin the U.S. submission to the UNFCCC’s 2028 Global Stocktake and inform the next phase of the Paris Agreement’s “loss-and-damage” financing negotiations.
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