GENEVA, November 9 – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is inviting experts and governments to review the Second Order Drafts of two Special Reports that will be launched next year. The Expert and Government Review for the Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC) takes place between 16 November 2018 and 11 January 2019. The Special Report on Climate Change and Land (SRCCL) can be reviewed from 19 November 2018 to 14 January 2019.
The two reports, to be finalized in the second half of 2019, follow the Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5ºC, which was released on 8 October. All IPCC reports go through multiple stages of formal review. After the Expert Review of the First Order Draft, the Second Order Draft is produced and reviewed by both governments and experts alongside a first draft of the Summary for Policymakers (SPM). Once the second round of review comments have been taken into account, governments review the Final Draft of the report and offer comments on the SPM. Finally, governments meet to approve the SPM line by line and accept the underlying report. The thorough review process ensures that IPCC reports consider objectively the full range of scientific, technical and socio-economic information from around the world.
Expert Reviewers can register with a self-declaration of expertise up to a week before the end of the review period.
• to review the Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate:
https://apps.ipcc.ch/comments/srocc/sod/register.php
• to review the Special Report on Climate Change and Land:
http://apps.ipcc.ch/comments/srccl/sod/register.php
About the SROCC
For the IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC), more than 100 scientists from more than 30 countries are assessing the latest scientific knowledge about the physical science basis and impacts of climate change on ocean, coastal, polar and mountain ecosystems, and the human communities that depend on them. Their vulnerabilities as well as adaptation capacities are also evaluated. Options for achieving climate-resilient development pathways will be presented. The SROCC is prepared under the joint scientific leadership of Working Group I and Working Group II, with operational support from the Working Group II Technical Support Unit. It will be launched in September 2019.
About the SRCCL
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 (SRCCL) assess topics such as the interactions between climate change and desertification, land degradation, food security, sustainable land management, and opportunities and risks associated with land-based adaptation and mitigation responses to climate change. The SRCCL is being developed under the joint scientific leadership of Working Groups I, II and III and the Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, with operational support from the Working Group III Technical Support Unit. It will be launched in August 2019.
For more information, contact:
IPCC Press Office:
Jonathan Lynn, +41 22 730 8066 or Werani Zabula, +41 22 730 8120, Email: ipcc-media@wmo.int
IPCC Working Group II Technical Support Unit:
Maike Nicolai, +49 471 4831 2445, Email: maike.nicolai@ipcc-wg2.awi.de
IPCC Working Group III Technical Support Unit:
Elizabeth Huntley, T: +44 (0)20 7594 1057, Email: tsu@ipcc-wg3.ac.uk
About 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 (UN Environment) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988 to provide policymakers with regular scientific assessments concerning climate change, its implications and potential future 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. All of these are supported by Technical Support Units guiding the production of IPCC assessment reports and other products.
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.