With great sadness, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has learned of the death of Dr Mannava V.K. Sivakumar, who passed away on 30 March 2025 in Hyderabad, India.
Dr Mannava Sivakumar, fondly known as Shiv, was the Acting Secretary of the IPCC from January to June 20I6, the early stages of the sixth assessment cycle. During this time, Dr Sivakumar oversaw the organization of the 43rd Session of the IPCC, where the Panel decided which Special Reports it would work on in the sixth cycle.
He was the Director of the Climate Prediction and Adaptation branch of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) from 2010 to 2012 when he retired. From 1998 to 2010, he was the Head of WMO’s Agricultural Meteorological Division.
Dr Sivakumar received the 2007 International Service in Agronomy Award of the American Society of Agronomy, which recognizes outstanding contributions in research, teaching, extension, or administration made outside of the USA by an active agronomist.
Before joining WMO he worked at the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) where his highest position was Principal Agricultural Climatologist at ICRISAT’s Sahelian Centre in Niamey, Niger.
Dr Sivakumar was born on 30th August 1950 in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India. In 1970, he graduated from the Agriculture College, Bapatla, where he had studied since 1966. He completed his Master’s degree at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in New Delhi in 1972 and obtained his Ph.D. from Iowa State University in 1977.