Summary for Policy Makers of the new Special Report on Extremes (SREX)
The IPCC has released the Summary for Policy Makers of the new Special Report on Extremes (SREX). This report, approved by all governments in the UN, summarizes best scientific knowledge on (i) how climate change affects weather extremes, now and in the future (ii) how these extremes result in disasters (iii) how those changing risks should be managed. Maarten van Aalst, director of the Climate Centre, contributed to the SREX report as a Coordinating Lead Author to the IPCC. The full SREX report will be available in early 2012.
Below are various materials and links relating to the IPCC’s new SREX.
- IPCC website, with the Summary for Policy Makers and other background materials
- IFRC press release, opinion piece, case study
- SREX in 2 pages: 10 Key Messages of the IPCC Special Report on Extreme Events
- SREX in 4 pages: Headlines from the IPCC Special Report on Extreme Events
- AlertNet: Few nations doing enough to protect people from extreme weather – Quotes from IPCC authors
On Thursday 24 November the ODI organized a Public Event, which was screened live online. The video of the event is now available on their website. It is both able to be streamed and available for download in bite size chunks here.
The IPCC is the UN’s scientific panel that assesses the knowledge base on climate change. Their assessments are performed by hundreds of the best scientists. Their conclusions are strengthened and refined based on three thorough review rounds by experts and governments. The final assessment results are summarized in a Summary for Policy Makers that is adopted line-by-line in a governmental approval session, where the author team guards the integrity of the scientific findings, but governments ensure that the summary truly reflects an international consensus on what the best science tells us.