2017/13/PR
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GENEVA, August 17 – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change (IPCC) has selected the author team that will prepare its special report on Climate Change and Land: an IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems. 103 experts from 52 countries will work together to produce the report, set to be finalized in September 2019.
“Understanding how human activities on land affect and are affected by climate change was seen as a priority area by Governments”, said Professor Jim Skea, Co-Chair of Working Group III – the IPCC group that examines climate change mitigation. “Now that the expert team is complete, the IPCC can begin its work assessing scientific research in key areas including sustainable land management and food security.”
The team was carefully selected from a total of 640 nominations by the IPCC Working Group Bureaux and the Co-Chairs of the Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories. The process took into account expertise, geographic representation, gender balance and prior IPCC experience. Overall, 56% of the selected experts come from developing countries, 43% are new to the IPCC process and 32% are women.
“The team brings together diverse and global expertise. The Bureau looks forward to working with the experts to produce a report that will be highly relevant to policymakers at national, regional and local levels,” added Professor P.R. Shukla, Co-Chair of Working Group III.
The team will now work together to begin the drafting process, following the report outline that was agreed in March 2017. The selected experts will take on roles of Coordinating Lead Authors and Lead Authors – who will draft each individual chapter – and Review Editors, who will ensure that comments by experts and Governments are given appropriate consideration as the report develops. The whole team will come together for the first time in Oslo in October to discuss the report in detail.
“We received hundreds of excellent nominations and the selection process was extremely tough,” said IPCC Vice-Chair Youba Sokona, who chaired the Committee that drafted the report outline. “But this is just one way to get involved. Once the team produces its first draft, we will need experts from across the globe to comment on it, so look out for further IPCC announcements.”
The IPCC expects to issue a call for expert reviewers in 2018.
You will find the full list of authors and review editors here: http://www.ipcc.ch/report/authors/.
For more information, contact:
IPCC Press Office, Email: ipcc-media@wmo.int, Nina Peeva +41 22 730 8142
IPCC Working Group III TSU, Email: m.ferrat@ipcc-wg3.ac.uk or tsu@ipcc-wg3.ac.uk , Marion Ferrat, +4420 7594 7377
Follow IPCC on Facebook @ipcc, Twitter @ipcc_ch, Instagram @ipcc and LinkedIn @ipcc.
Notes for editors
What is the IPCC?
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change. It was established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988 to provide policymakers with regular scientific assessments concerning climate change, its implications and risks, as well as to put forward adaptation and mitigation strategies. It has 195 member states.
IPCC assessments provide governments, at all levels, with scientific information that they can use to develop climate policies. IPCC assessments are a key input into the international negotiations to tackle climate change. IPCC reports are drafted and reviewed in several stages, thus guaranteeing objectivity and transparency.
The IPCC assesses the thousands of scientific papers published each year to tell policymakers what we know and don’t know about the risks related to climate change. The IPCC identifies where there is agreement in the scientific community, where there are differences of opinion, and where further research is needed. It does not conduct its own research.
To produce its reports, the IPCC mobilizes hundreds of scientists. These scientists and officials are drawn from diverse backgrounds. Only a dozen permanent staff work in the IPCC’s Secretariat.
The IPCC has three working groups: Working Group I, dealing with the physical science basis of climate change; Working Group II, dealing with impacts, adaptation and vulnerability; and Working Group III, dealing with the mitigation of climate change. It also has a Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories that develops methodologies for measuring emissions and removals.
IPCC Assessment Reports consist of contributions from each of the three working groups and a Synthesis Report. Special Reports undertake an assessment of cross-disciplinary issues that span more than one working group and are shorter and more focused than the main assessments.
Sixth Assessment Cycle
At its 41st Session in February 2015, the IPCC decided to produce a Sixth Assessment Report (AR6). At its 42nd Session in October 2015 it elected a new Bureau that would oversee the work on this report and Special Reports to be produced in the assessment cycle. At its 43rd Session in April 2016, it decided to produce three Special Reports, a Methodology Report and AR6.
The first of these special reports, to be finalized in September 2018, is Global Warming of 1.5°C, an IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty.
The Methodology Report, entitled 2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, will be delivered in May 2019.
Climate Change and Land: an IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems will be delivered in September 2019. It is being prepared under the joint scientific leadership of all three working groups, with support from the Working Group III Technical Support Unit.
In September 2019 the IPCC will also finalize the Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate..
The IPCC will approve the outlines of AR6 in September 2017. The three working contributions will be released in 2021 and the Synthesis Report in April 2022.
Who takes part in the report writing process?
Hundreds of experts are involved on a voluntary basis in the preparation of IPCC reports. Governments and participating organizations put forward lists of Coordinating Lead Authors and Lead Authors for each report. The relevant Working Group/Task Force Bureau then selects the authors from this list and other experts known through their publications and works, under general guidance from the Session of the Working Group (or by the Panel in case of reports prepared by the Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories). None of authors are paid by the IPCC.
The composition of the group of Coordinating Lead Authors (CLAs) and Lead Authors (LAs) for a chapter, a report or its summary aims to reflect a range of scientific, technical and socio-economic views and expertise; geographical representation; a mixture of experts with and without previous experience in IPCC; and gender balance. The CLAs coordinate the content of the chapter they are responsible for and the LAs work in teams to produce the content of the chapter on the basis of the best scientific, technical and socio-economic information available.
In the course of the assessment process Lead Authors may also enlist Contributing Authors. Contributing Authors provide Lead Authors more technical information on specific subjects covered by the chapter.
Review Editors assist the Working Group/Task Force Bureaux in identifying reviewers for the expert review process, ensure that all substantive expert and government review comments are appropriately considered by the author teams, advise Lead Authors on how to handle contentious/controversial issues and ensure genuine controversies are reflected adequately in the text of the report.