IPCC-AR3-2001

Climate Change 2001 - Assessment of the IPCC

Completed


Type of Structure: assessment
Regional Scope: global
Parent Organisations: IPCC
Child Organisations:
Duration : 1996 to 2001 COMPLETED
Contact Address: no office contact defined


General information and objectives

IPCC Third Assessment Report 2001

The report consists of three parts.
Part 1 "The scientific basis": The report analyses the enormous body of observations of all parts of the climate system, concluding that this body of observations now gives a collective picture of a warming world. The report catalogues the increasing concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gases and assesses the effects of these gases and atmospheric aerosols in altering the radiation balance of the Earth-atmosphere system. The report assesses the understanding of the processes that govern the climate system and by studying how well the new generation of climate models represent these processes, assesses the suitability of the models for projecting climate change into the future. A detailed study is made of human influence on climate and whether it can be identified with any more confidence than in 1996, concluding that there is new and stronger evidence that most of the observed warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities. Projections of future climate change are presented using a wide range of scenarios of future emissions of greenhouse gases and aerosols. Both temperature and sea level are projected to continue to rise throughout the 21st century for all scenarios studied. Finally, the report looks at the gaps in information and understanding that remain and how these might be addressed. Part 2 "Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability" This report examines climate change impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability across a range of systems and sectors and includes a regional assessment. Environmental, social, and economic dimensions of these issues are assessed in this report. Efforts are made to address a number of issues that cut across the various sectors and systems covered by the report, as well as across all three parts, such as sustainable development, equity, scientific uncertainties, costing methodologies, and decisionmaking frameworks. Part 3 "Mitigation" The assessment focuses on the policy-relevant questions of today. It also draws on the IPCC Special Reports on Aviation and the Atmosphere, on Methodological and Technological Issues in Technology Transfer, on Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry, and Emissions Scenarios that were published in 1999 and 2000. The report, in accordance with the mandate given to Working Group III, explicitly places climate change mitigation in the broader context of development, equity, and sustainability. It draws on a broad set of literature also covering the social sciences and acknowledges different views on the linkages between climate change mitigation and sustainable development policies.


Last update: 4/27/22
Source of data: ProClim- Research InfoSystem (1993-2024)

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