Climate ChangeClimate change is an issue that has aroused much discussion and debate. There are now a number of sources which can be accessed allowing personal study and individuals can reach their own conclusions. This page gives some of the many sources that can be explored to help inform your view. In addition there has been a major international conference in Copenhagen in Denmark from 7 - 18 December 2009. Known as COP 15 - this was the 15th meeting of the UN's Framework Convention on Climate Change and it promised to be a key next step in agreeing actions in respect of global climate change. This resulted in the Copenhagen accord which you can see at http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2009/cop15/eng/l07.pdf Perhaps one of the best place to start in a personal quest is with the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This published its first assessment way back in 1970 and issued subsequent reports in 1995 and 2000. The fourth assessment has recently been completed and moves the discussion on considerably. The synthesis report was published in Valencia in Spain and it is understood to have been fully endorsed by all of the world's major governments (including the USA) and has been distilled from more than 3,000 pages of research. Adam Steiner, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has apparently called the report "the most essential reading for every person on the planet who cares about the future." This report can be found at http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/syr/ar4_syr_spm.pdf For even more in depth study the summary reports of the three working groups of the IPCC which have all been publised in 2007 can also be accessed. These are as follows:- The Working Group 1 Summary Report was published in Paris in February 2007 and covers the Physical Sciences Basis. It describes the progress in understanding of the human and natural drivers of climate change, observed climate change, climate processes and attribution and estimates of projected future climate change. It can be viewed at the following web address http://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/ar4-wg1.htm Working Group 2 Summary Report delivered in Brussels in April 2007 is an assessment of the current scientific understanding of the impact of climate change on natural, managed and human systems, the capacity of these systems to adapt and their vulnerability. It can be viewed at http://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/ar4-wg2.htm
Working Group 3 Summary Report published in Bangkok in May 2007 covers the mitigation of climate change. It focuses on new literature on the scientific, technological, environmental, economic and social aspects of the mitigation of climate change. It can be viewed at http://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/ar4-wg3.htm
The report by Sir Nicholas Stern for the UK Government is also worth exploring to see the impact of these issues close to home. A summary of the the key aspects of this can be found at:-
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has some interesting reports. One of the latest GEO-4 asseses the current state of the global atmosphere, land, water and biodiversity, describes the changes since 1987 and identifies priorities for action. It can be found at:- http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=519&ArticleID=5688&l=en Recently the UN has published an Assessment of Assessments - which looks at the findings of a group of experts and is aimed at informing decision makers ahead of the Copenhagen summit in December 2009. This document can be found at http://www.unep.org/DEWA/pdf/AoA/AoA+SDM+layout_ENGLISH+LR.pdf There are also a number on interactive E-Books which are worth exploring on the UN Environment Programme website. These are at http://www.unep.org/publications/ |
 Printable Version |