Abstract:
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was founded in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). It is open to all members of WMO and UNEP, and its findings are a basis for the international negotiations within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The first full IPCC assessment report was published in 1990. It stimulated the formation of the intergovernmental negotiation committee for the UNFCCC through the UN general assembly. The UNFCCC was signed in 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro and was enacted in March 1994. It provides a political framework in which climate change themes can be addressed. The second IPCC report in 1995 contained key information for the negotiations which then led to the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol through the UNFCCC in 1997. The IPCC also publishes special reports and technical reports on themes for which independent scientific information and advice are necessary, and supports the UNFCCC in its work for national greenhouse gas inventories. Climate Change 2007, the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) of IPCC, is the fourth in a series of reports intended to assess scientific, technical and socio-economic information concerning climate change, its potential effects, and options for adaptation and mitigation.
