International Panel on Climate Change publishes Synthesis Report
Mon 19 November 2007
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The International Panel on Climate Change has published a 23-page 'Synthesis Report' which summarises the latest state of knowledge on climate science. It is the peer-reviewed work of several thousand scientists and is endorsed by the major governments of the world.
The Synthesis has been distilled from more than 3,000 pages of research published in the three separate parts of the IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report, during the course of 2007 – on the science of climate change, on its potential impacts, and the possible remedies.
The individual sections – published in Paris in February, in Brussels in April and in Bangkok in May – explained how the Earth could warm by an average of up to 6C during the course of the next century, and that this would be devastating in its impact for human society, with the impacts being felt earliest and in the most devastating way by the poor in developing countries. The Synthesis, however, also offers hope that the problem is solvable, if governments take rapid and decisive action to cut the greenhouse gas emissions causing the warming.
According to an article in The Independent, the upcoming Bali conference was delayed by a month so that the participants could be in possession of The Synthesis in time for the talks. The document will provide the essential background information against which the delegates in Bali will work.
All participating governments adopted The Synthesis by consensus following a week's negotiations in Valencia earlier this year.
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