2019/19/ST
IPCC
STATEMENT16 July
2019
Media reports on the
draft IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and
Land GENEVA, July 16 – The
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
notes that news articles have appeared citing a
draft of the IPCC Special Report on Climate
Change and Land (SRCCL).
The IPCC
will consider the report from 2 to 6 August 2019
in Geneva, where it will examine the Summary for
Policymakers of the report line by line. This
process typically leads to further changes in
the Summary for Policymakers.
Draft
reports are provided as working documents for
the approval session. They are not intended for
public distribution, and must not be quoted or
cited, because the text can change between the
drafts and the final version once the IPCC has
carefully considered every line. As with any
work in progress, it is important to respect the
authors and give them the time and space to
finish writing before making the work
public.
Drafts of the report are
collective works in progress that do not
necessarily represent the IPCC’s final
assessment of the state of knowledge. According
to the IPCC procedures, reports are made
available to the public after their Summary for
Policymakers has been approved and the
underlying report accepted. The IPCC does not
comment on draft reports while work is
ongoing.
The agreed outline of the
report, whose full name is
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, can be found
at:
www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/04/Decision_Outline_SR_LandUse.pdf Subject
to approval, a press conference to present the
IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land
will be held on 8
t August
in Geneva. The press conference will be streamed
live. Details on how to access it were sent in
this
media advisory. The SRCCL
Summary for Policymakers, press release and any
other press materials will be made available to
registered media under embargo shortly after
completion of the approval process, expected on
6 August.
The latest draft of the
report was circulated to governments for comment
on the Summary for Policymakers between 29 April
and 24 June 2019.
Journalists or
others seeking context or background information
can contact Sigourney Luz, Communications
Manager, IPCC Working Group III Technical
Support Unit, or Jonathan Lynn, Head of
Communications, IPCC.
For more
information contact: IPCC
Press Office, Email:
ipcc-...@wmo.int Twitter:
@IPCC_CH
Jonathan Lynn,
+41 22 730 8066 or
Werani Zabula,
+41 22 730 8120 IPCC
Working Group III Technical Support
Unit:
Sigourney Luz,
+44 20 7594 7377,
Email:
s....@ipcc-wg3.ac.uk, Twitter:
@sigourneyluz
Notes
for editors About the
SRCCL For the IPCC
Special
Report on Climate Change (SRCCL),
more than 100 scientists from 52 countries are
assessing the latest scientific knowledge about
climate change, desertification, land
degradation, sustainable land management, food
security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in
terrestrial ecosystems. Their interlinkages as
well as synergies, trade-offs and integrated
response options will be presented. The SRCCL is
being prepared under the joint scientific
leadership of Working Groups I, II, III and the
Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas
Inventories, and supported by the WG III
Technical Support
Unit.
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.
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.
About the Sixth
Assessment CycleAt 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.
In
October 2018 the IPCC finalized the Special
Report on
Global
Warming of 1.5ºC. In May 2019 it released
the Methodology Report
2019
Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines on
National Greenhouse Gas
Inentories.Besides
Climate
Change and Land, the IPCC will release
the
Special
Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing
Climate (SROCC)
in September 2019, subject to
approval.
The three Working Groups’
contributions to the Sixth Assessment Report
will be finalized in 2021. A Synthesis Report
will complete the AR6 cycle in early 2022,
integrating all the Working Group contributions
and the findings of the three special
reports.
For more information go
to www.ipcc.ch