Climate Change and Land

At its 43rd Session (Nairobi, Kenya, 11 – 13 April 2016), the IPCC Panel decided to prepare a special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems.

Experts met on 13 – 17 February 2017 in Dublin, Ireland to prepare a draft outline for the report.

At its 45th Session (Guadalajara, Mexico, 28 – 31 March 2017), the Panel approved the outline for Climate Change and Land: an IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems.

The Special Report was developed under the joint scientific leadership of Working Groups I, II, III in cooperation with the Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, and supported by the Working Group III Technical Support Unit.

107 experts from 52 countries were selected as Coordinating Lead Authors and Lead Authors – who are working on  each individual chapter – and Review Editors, who ensured that comments by experts and governments were given appropriate consideration as the report developed.

40% of the Coordinating Lead Authors are women.  53% of the authors are from developing countries, making this the first IPCC report to have more authors from developing countries than from developed countries.  The full list of Coordinating Lead Authors, Lead Authors and Review Editors is here.

A call for nomination of authors was sent to governments, observer organizations and IPCC Bureau Members on 5 April 2017. Graphics that provide background information about the nominees are available here

Lead Author Meetings

• First Lead Author Meeting: Oslo, Norway, 16 – 20 October 2017
• Second Lead Author Meeting: Christchurch, New Zealand, 26 – 30 March 2018
• Third Lead Author Meeting: Dublin, Ireland, 3 – 7 September 2018
• Fourth Lead Author Meeting: Cali, Colombia, 11 – 15 February 2019