IAC Review meeting
R.K. Pachauri
Chairman,
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Amsterdam, May 14, 2010
WMO
UNEP
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Mandate of the IPCC
“The General Assembly […] endorses action of the
World Meteorological Organisation and the United
Nations Environment Programme in jointly
establishing an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change to provide international coordinated
scientific assessments of the magnitude, timing and
potential environmental and socio-economic impact of
climate change and realistic response strategies […].”
United Nations General Assembly
43rd session resolution, 6th December 1988
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Organisational structure
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The Panel and its Plenary Sessions
• The Panel, comprised of government delegations of all
member countries, meets approximately once a year at
the plenary level. These Sessions are attended by
hundreds of officials and experts from relevant
ministries, agencies and research institutions from
member countries and from observer organizations.
Major decisions such as the election of the IPCC Chair,
IPCC Bureau and the Task Force Bureau, the structure
and mandate of IPCC Working Groups and Task Forces,
as well as on procedural matters, work-plan and budget
are taken by the Panel in plenary session. The Panel
decides also on scope and outline of IPCC reports and
accepts the reports.
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How the work of the IPCC is organized
•
•
•
Thousands of scientists all over the world contribute to the work of the
IPCC on a voluntary basis as authors, contributors and reviewers. None of
them is paid by the IPCC. Their work is supported by a central IPCC
Secretariat, whose role is to plan, coordinate and oversee all IPCC
activities and by the Technical Support Units of the Working Groups and
Task Force. The Secretariat and the TSUs employ 5-10 people each.
The IPCC is currently organized in 3 Working Groups. Working Group I
deals with "The Physical Science Basis of Climate Change", Working
Group II with "Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability" and
Working Group III with "Mitigation of Climate Change". They are assisted
by a Technical Support Unit, which is hosted and financially supported by
the government of the country who offered to do so.
The IPCC has also a Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas
Inventories. The main objective of the Task Force is to develop and refine
a methodology for the calculation and reporting of national GHG emissions
and removals. In addition to the Working Groups and Task Force, further
Task Groups and Steering Groups may be established for a limited or
longer duration to consider a specific topic or question.
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Number of papers published on
climate change
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The IPCC Fourth Assessment Report
(2007)
+130 countries
around 450 lead authors
around 800 contributing authors
+2500 scientific expert reviewers
+18000 peer-reviewed publications cited
+90000 comments from experts and Governments
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PROCEDURE FOR USING NONPUBLISHED/NON-PEER-REVIEWED
SOURCES IN IPCC REPORTS
• It is increasingly apparent that materials relevant to IPCC
Reports, in particular, information about the experience and
practice of the private sector in mitigation and adaptation
activities, are found in sources that have not been
published or peer-reviewed (e.g., industry journals, internal
organisational publications, non-peer reviewed reports or
working papers of research institutions, proceedings of
workshops etc)
• Additional procedures are provided. These have been
designed to make all references used in IPCC Reports
easily accessible and to ensure that the IPCC process
remains open and transparent.
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• RESPONSIBILITIES OF AUTHORS:
A) Critically assess any source that they wish to include.
B) Each chapter team should review the quality and validity of each source before
incorporating results from the source into an IPCC Report.
•
RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE REVIEW EDITORS: ensure that these sources are
selected and used in a consistent manner across the Report.
•
RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE WORKING GROUP/TASK FORCE BUREAU COCHAIRS:
A) Collect and index the sources received from authors, as well as the accompanying
information received about each source &
B) Send copies of unpublished sources to reviewers who request them during the review
process.
• TREATMENT IN IPCC REPORTS:
A) Non-peer-reviewed sources will be listed in the reference sections of IPCC Reports.
B) These will be integrated with references for the peer-reviewed sources.
C) These will be integrated with references to the peer reviewed sources stating how the
material can be accessed, but will be followed by a statement that they are not
published.
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Cumulative balance of glacier mass
Water supplies stored
in glaciers are projected
to decline in the course
of the century
Decreases in glaciers
have contributed about
28% of sea level rise
since 1993
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5th Assessment Report (AR5)
• Decision to prepare AR5 taken at 28th Panel session in April 2008
• Outlines and schedule for contributions of 3 Working Groups to the
AR5 agreed at 31st session in October 2009
• Nominations received from experts to act as Coordinating Lead
Authors (CLAs), Lead Authors (LAs) and Review Editors (RE)
• From country focal points
• Ministries of Foreign Affairs
• Observer organisations to the IPCC
•
Selection of authors under finalisation and due to be announced in
early June 2010
• Selection to be based on criteria of expertise, regional balance, etc.
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