The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is getting ready to publish an IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems later today.
The report Climate Change and Land by the United Nations body responsible for assessing the science related to climate change has been developed by 103 experts from 52 countries.
The report explores how the way land is used contributes to climate change and how climate change in turn is affecting land.
IPCC Chair Hoesung Lee commented:
“I hope this report will raise awareness among all people about the threats and opportunities posed by climate change to the land we live on and which feeds us.”
Besides exploring the impact of climate change on land, the report also assesses how land management can contribute to addressing climate change and how this interacts with food security.
The IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report, published in 2014, found that agriculture, forestry and other land use was the source of 24% of greenhouse gas emissions in 2010.
“This report addresses all three UN Rio conventions – climate, biodiversity and desertification – and thus our report recognizes the nexus of these global challenges and demonstrates the broad policy relevance of the IPCC’s work,” Lee continued.
Climate Change and Land is the first IPCC report in which a majority of the authors are from developing countries.
Key issues considered in the report include:
- Land–Climate interactions
- Status, current trends and future projections of desertification linked to climate change, globally and regionally
- Impacts of desertification on natural and human systems in a changing climate
- Land degradation and climate change, including extremes (e.g. floods and droughts), erosion, and their effects on ecosystems and livelihoods
- Food security
- Impacts of food and nutrition security on climate change
- Impacts of land-based mitigation options on land degradation, desertification, food security, and ecosystems and their services
The report follows the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5ºC released in October 2018. The Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate, to be finalized in September 2019, will look at oceans and the frozen world.
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