OSLO, October 16 – More than 100 experts from 52 countries met in Oslo on Monday 16 October to begin work on the IPCC’s 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. This is one of three special reports that the IPCC will produce between now and 2019.
“In 2015, we asked Governments what topics they wanted the IPCC to focus on in this cycle. Exploring the feedbacks between climate change and land was seen as a priority,” said P.R. Shukla, Co-Chair of Working Group III, the IPCC working group that looks at how the emissions that cause climate change can be reduced. “This report will be a crucial step in the IPCC Sixth Assessment Cycle.”
The report outline was agreed in March 2017. Based on hundreds of nominations from governments and IPCC observer organizations, the IPCC then selected 103 experts to draft the report. Scientific expertise, geographic representation, gender balance and prior IPCC experience were all taken into account when making the selection.
This is the first opportunity for these experts to come together, discuss their work and start developing the report. The authors will identify the research to be assessed in the different chapters of the outline, and look at how each chapter fits into the bigger picture. The meeting is hosted by the Norwegian Environment Agency.
“Over the past year we have worked hard with Governments to develop a report structure that is both science-based and policy-relevant,” said Jim Skea, Co-Chair of Working Group III. “We are excited at getting the experts together for the first time to start writing.”
IPCC reports are produced through a process of repeated drafting and review. The authors will meet again in March 2018 to prepare a first draft of the report for expert review. The report will be finalized in 2019.
In addition to the author meeting, there will be an outreach event at the Nobel Peace Centre on 17 October, to mark the 10th anniversary of the Nobel Peace Prize jointly awarded to the IPCC and former U.S. Vice-President Al Gore. Information on the event can be found here.
You can download the full list of authors of the Report here.
For more information, contact:
IPCC Working Group III Technical Support Unit: tsu@ipcc-wg3.ac.uk
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Notes for editors
What is the IPCC?
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the UN body for assessing the science related to climate change. It was established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988 to provide policymakers with periodic 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.
Comprehensive scientific assessment reports are published every 6 to 7 years; the latest, the Fifth Assessment Report, was completed in 2014. The next comprehensive assessment is scheduled to be completed in 2022. The IPCC also publishes special reports on more specific issues between assessment reports.
In addition to the Special Report on Climate Change and Land, the IPCC has agreed to prepare two other special reports during this assessment cycle:
- Global Warming of 1.5 ºC, an IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 ºC 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, to be finalized in October 2018; and
- Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate to be completed in September 2019
The IPCC also prepares methodologies to enable countries to report their emissions and removals of greenhouse gases. It is currently updating the 2006 IPCC Guidelines on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, for completion in May 2019.
The IPCC is currently seeking nominations for authors for the three Working Group contributions to its Sixth Assessment Report, scheduled for completion in 2021. The Panel approved the outlines of the Woking Group contributions in early September at its last Session. The Sixth Assessment Report will be completed by a Synthesis Report in 2022, integrating the three Working Group contributions and three Special Reports.
