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♤ The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution, in December 1988, on the subject and endorsed the UNEP/ WMO proposal for the setting up of the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
♤ It was established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988 to provide the governments of the world with a clear scientific view of what is happening to the world’s climate.
♤ The Secretariat coordinates all the IPCC work and liaises with Governments. The secretariat is supported by WMO and UNEP and hosted at WMO headquarters in Geneva.
♤ It is open to all member countries of the United Nations (UN) and WMO. Currently 195 countries are members of the IPCC.
♤ The initial task for the IPCC as outlined in the UN General Assembly Resolution 1988 was to prepare a comprehensive review and recommendations with respect to the state of knowledge of the science of climate change; social and economic impact of climate change, and possible response strategies and elements for inclusion in a possible future international convention on climate.
♤ The IPCC is a scientific body. It reviews and assesses the most recent scientific, technical and socio- economic information produced worldwide relevant to the understanding of climate change.
♤ It does not conduct any research nor does it monitor climate related data or parameters.
♤ Thousands of scientists from all over the world contribute to the work of the IPCC on a voluntary basis.
♤ Review is an essential part of the IPCC process, to ensure an objective and complete assessment of current information.
♤ Governments participate in the review process and the plenary Sessions, where main decisions about the IPCC work programme are taken and reports are accepted, adopted and approved.
♤ By endorsing the IPCC reports, governments acknowledge the authority of their scientific content. The work of the organization is therefore policy-relevant and yet policy-neutral, never policy-prescriptive.
♤ The IPCC has delivered on a regular basis the most comprehensive scientific reports about climate change produced worldwide, the Assessment Reports.
♤ It has also responded to the need of the UNFCCC for information on scientific and technical matters through Special Reports, Technical Papers and Methodology Reports.
♤ It has also produced methodologies and guidelines to help Parties to the UNFCCC prepare their national greenhouse gas inventories.