The results of these programmes help to provide policy makers with the best available scientific knowledge for setting strategies for sustainable development. World Climate Research Programme, WCRP - the physical climate system, comprising the dynamics of the atmosphere, the oceans, the land surface and ice sheets. International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change, IHDP - the interactions between human society and its environment on a planetary scale. The field and laboratory research of these interlocking activities is predominantly funded and carried out at the national level. Programme coordination at the international level provides global coherence, helping to accelerate scientific progress for all participants.
Priority is given to key global change problems that benefit from a worldwide approach.
These functions are achieved within each programme through international core funding, providing worldwide involvement in the design and guidance of focused, well-integrated studies. Coordination between programmes is actively encouraged by ICSU, through a wide range of formal and informal arrangements.