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IAC Review meeting

R.K. PachauriChairman, 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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+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

The IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (2007)

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PROCEDURE FOR USING NON-PUBLISHED/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 CO-CHAIRS:

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

Decreases in glaciers have contributed about

28% of sea level rise since 1993

Water supplies stored in glaciers are projected to decline in the course

of the century

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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.