IPCC Summary for Policymakers: A Critique
Climate change and global warming is a complex topic that has the world divided on opinion. Many researchers and scientists believe that it does exist and that human activities have a major role in it. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an international panel that provides thorough reviews of international literature relevant to the understanding of climate change. The subject of this critique is the 2014 report entitled "Summary for policymakers," which is a contribution of one of the IPCC's working groups to their fifth assessment report on climate change. It summarizes the impacts of climate change on human and natural systems and provides a guideline on how to mitigate these current effects and possible future risks for policymakers.
The report is divided into three parts with multiple sub-parts for each section. The first section is a summary of observed impacts of, vulnerability to, and adaptation towards, climate change. It reviews information such as the effects of climate change on water and ice bodies, crops and crop yields, shifting animal patterns and abundance, and extreme climate-related events (e.g. heat waves, droughts, floods, cyclones, wildfire, etc.), among many others. It also shows how adaptation experience is accumulating across the globe, how various governments have acted towards climate change, and shows how adaptation and mitigation choices in the near future will affect the risks of climate change throughout the 21st century. The second section presents future risks and opportunities for adaptation. It shows key risks across sectors and regions providing information how climate change affects each. And the final section focused on how to manage future risks and building towards resilience. It provides actions that can be taken towards building resilience and provides examples per region of the world.
At the very start the IPCC states that one of its key findings is that “it is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century.” It then provides information on how climate change has affected the world and how to mitigate adverse effects and future risks using sound and informed decisions. Many people argue on whether human activities have really caused the continual increase in global temperatures and this is one of the reasons the topic of climate change has been deemed controversial. Many anthropogenic activities have caused a lot of adverse environmental effects so it does not really seem very unlikely that these adverse effects aggregated on a more global scale in the form of global warming. Thus on this aspect I do agree with the IPCC. Certainly being more sensitive to environmental issues cannot be detrimental to our existence. Furthermore, this report does not focus or expound on the aforementioned finding because this is the international consensus (at least in this body) and the subject of this report is not really in defense of why it is so but is more on how to make informed decisions for policymakers.
The structure of the report follows a logical pattern wherein it first provides a background on how climate change has affected natural and human systems, presents future risks to various sectors and regions of the world, and finally provides vital information for decision making involving adaptation and mitigation with implications for future generations, economies and environments. While its intended audience is policymakers worldwide, it can be a worthwhile read for the layman. The terms are well-defined so that readers will fully understand the implications of their findings. The key findings are followed by specific evidence or analysis and it even provides qualitative assessment of evidence and agreement on each of its major statement. Since it is an international report, including the level of agreement and confidence in the validity of a finding proves a useful tool in informing the reader the consensus of the entire body and that each key finding is well-represented. Their thorough analysis ensures that no hasty generalizations were made. The report also included region-specific risks, adaptation approaches and vulnerability reduction so that policymakers would know what kind of decisions they would have to make with respect to the risks associated with the regions where they reside or have jurisdiction. Thus the structure of the report was neither misleading nor confusing.
On the subject of matter I find no fault in this report either. The amount of information provided is not excessive such that it veers away from its purpose and is not too little that the reader would think that there were parts missing or that certain pieces of information were glossed over. Their assessments are very thorough yet succinct. They were careful in choosing what aspects were necessary and I cannot really find anything that should also be included. The infographics were done well and properly explained in the accompanying text.
Overall the IPCC report “Summary for Policymakers” is a very thorough informative text that serves it purpose of guiding policymakers into making sound and informed decisions addressing the problems posed by climate change. Important terms are well-defined and the vocabulary should not be difficult for its intended audience. The amount of information covers a lot of ground without being excessive. The report is well-structured and follows an easy to grasp logical flow. Statements or findings are not hasty generalizations, review a lot of material, and were qualified using defined terms to show well-representation from the international panel. The report will serve as a good guide for policymakers throughout the globe.
Reference
International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Summary for policymakers. In: Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects. Contribution ofWorking Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Field, C.B. et al. (eds.)]. UK: Cambridge University Press, 2014.
