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 will be developed under the joint scientific leadership of Working Groups I, II and III supported by the WG III TSU.
A call for nomination of authors was sent to governments, observer organizations and IPCC Bureau Members on 5 April 2017. They were asked to submit their nominations via their focal points before Wednesday, 17 May 2017 (midnight CEST) using the online portal.
103 experts from 52 countries were selected as Coordinating Lead Authors and Lead Authors – who will draft each individual chapter – and Review Editors, who will ensure that comments by experts and governments are given appropriate consideration as the report develops. The Special Report is scheduled to be finalized in August 2019 (TBC).
The full list of Coordinating Lead Authors, Lead Authors and Review Editors is here.
Graphics that provide background information about the nominees are available here and statistics on selected authors are here.
LAM1 press release: IPCC holds First Lead Author Meeting for Special Report on Climate Change and Land
The Steering Committee for the Special Report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems circulated a questionnaire to IPCC Focal Points and Observer Organizations ahead of the Scoping Meeting in February 2017 to get input on the structure and contents of the report. You can download the questionnaire and stakeholder consultation report here.
A scoping meeting for the Special Report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems was held on 13 – 17 February 2017 in Dublin, Ireland. The meeting resulted in a draft scoping paper describing the objectives and an annotated outline of the Special Report as well as the process and timeline for its preparation.
All the details of the scoping meeting are available in the scoping meeting report.
Adopted outline – (The dates of the 1st Lead Author Meeting have been corrected to read 16-20 October 2017)
Steering Committe
List of expertise
Scoping meeting programme
Background report for the scoping meeting
List of participants
Questionnaire and stakeholder consultation report
| Second Lead Author Meeting | 26-30 March | 2018 |
| First Order Draft submitted to TSU for compilation | 27 May | 2018 |
| Expert review of First Order Draft Deadline 5 August | 11 June-5 August | 2018 |
| Compiled review comments to Coordinating Lead Authors | 19 August | 2018 |
| Third Lead Author Meeting | 3-7 September | 2018 |
| Literature deadline Literature for consideration by report authors must be submitted to publishers by this date | 28 October | 2018 |
| Second Order Draft submitted to TSU for compilation | 4 November | 2018 |
| Expert and Government review of Second Order Draft Deadline 13 January 2019 | 19 November-14 January | 2018-19 |
| Compiled review comments to Coordinating Lead Authors | 23 January | 2019 |
| Fourth Lead Author Meeting | 11-16 Feburary | 2019 |
| Literature deadline Literature for consideration by report authors must be accepted for publication by this date | 7 April | 2019 |
| Final draft submitted to TSU | 14 April | 2019 |
| Final Government distribution | 29 April-23 June | 2019 |
| SPM Meeting with CLAs and SPM drafting team | 9-10 August | 2019 |
| Approval Plenary Joint WGI-II-III session | 12-16 August | 2019 |
Download PDF here.
Graphics and statistical reports concerning the initial nominations and shortlisting of each stage are available in the public portal. Statistical reports include nominations by:
Nominations by Date
Citizenship
Gender and Region
Graduated Year
Observer Organizations
Nominating Countries
Previous IPCC Experience
Distribution by Region and Country
Regional Expertise
Sectors
Statistics
and more
Adopted outline – (The dates of the 1st Lead Author Meeting have been corrected to read 16-20 October 2017)
IPCC-XLV/Doc. 7 – Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) Products – Outline of the Special Report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems
IPCC-XLV/INF. 7 – Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) products – Outline of the Special Report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems
IPCC-XLIII/INF. 7: Special Reports – Proposed themes for Special Reports during the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) cycle
IPCC-XLIII/INF. 8: Special Reports Commentary from the Co-chairs of Working Groups I, II and III on each of the proposals for Special Reports contained in document IPCC-XLIII/INF. 7
IPCC-XLIII/INF. 9: Special Reports – Commentary from the Co-Chairs of Working Groups I, II and III on clusters of proposals for Special Reports contained in document IPCC-XLIII/INF. 7
IPCC-XLIII/INF. 19: Sixth Assessment Report Products – Information document