Climate change assessments Review of the processes and ...

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consultants who are not formally posted to the Secretariat. The Secretariat reports to the IPCC Chair on technical issues and most administrative matters and to UNEP and WMO on personnel issues. It is housed in the WMO building in Geneva. Views on the effectiveness of the Secretariat are mixed, as are the suggested recommendations for improvement. Some respondents to the Committee’s questionnaire, for example, found the Secretariat to be political and ineffective and recommended a more professional management structure. Others thought that it does a fine job, but that the structure is too lean given the increased responsibilities that have come with a larger, more complex assessment. Many respondents cautioned against simply expanding the Secretariat, recommending instead more strategic enhancements. A similar diversity of views has been expressed by Member governments (IPCC, 2009). The 2009 IPCC Task Group recommended that the Secretariat’s focus remain on organizational and administrative matters, with a secondary focus on supporting the scientific and technical activities of the IPCC. The Committee agrees, but notes that advances in digital technologies (see ‘Access to Information’ in Chapter 5) and new communications needs (see ‘Communications’ below) have changed the mix of skills and possibly the number of staff needed at the Secretariat. The extensive and diverse responsibilities of the Secretariat can no longer be discharged satisfactorily with the current combination of scale, job assignments, and the restrictions on staffing and budget imposed by its position in the context of a UN specialized agency. Recommendation ►The IPCC should redefine the responsibilities of key Secretariat positions both to improve efficiency and to allow for any future senior appointments. Although the Committee could not specify all of the staff’s roles and responsibilities in the Secretariat, it is clear that a new architecture is needed. In particular, a new position of Executive Director is necessary to lead the Secretariat, ensure that IPCC protocols for processes and timelines are followed, and keep in touch with the Working Groups. A nominations committee established by the proposed Executive Committee would develop a slate of candidates, and the Executive Director would be elected by the Panel in Plenary session. The Executive Director would serve as an 50 Climate change assessments | Review of the processes and procedures of the IPCC
ex officio member of the Executive Committee. Consequently, the Executive Director should be a peer of the Working Group Co-chairs. In addition, he or she should have a reputation for integrity and independence and should be a good networker, be familiar with the interface between science and public policy, and be capable of speaking and authorized to speak on behalf of the IPCC. To attract the best scientists and add vitality to the organization, the position would have a term of only five to seven years (a full assessment period), and would continue until the Working Group Co-chairs for the subsequent assessment are elected. A full-time Executive Director is often found alongside a part-time Chair in other organizations (e.g., FRC, 2010). Such a senior individual has the full confidence of the Chair and can act on his or her behalf as needed. The only senior-level management position in the current IPCC structure is the IPCC Secretary. Although at a high director grade (D2), the Secretary does not carry either the equivalent level of autonomy or responsibility as Executive Directors of other international organizations. Recommendation ►The IPCC should elect an Executive Director to lead the Secretariat and handle day-to-day operations of the organization. The term of this senior scientist should be limited to the time frame of one assessment. Conflict of interest and disclosure A key governance feature of institutions that deal with broad public policy interests is the consideration of conflict of interest (NRC, 2002). The term ‘conflict of interest’ refers to any financial or other interest that compromises the service of an individual by significantly impairing the individual’s objectivity or creating an unfair competitive advantage for any person or organization. Conflict of interest means something more than a strong view or bias—there must be an interest, ordinarily financial, that could be directly affected by the individual’s participation (NAS, 2003). Many governmental and nongovernmental institutions that carry out scientific assessments or provide scientific advice have adopted conflict-ofinterest and disclosure policies in order to assure the integrity of, and public confidence in, their results (BPC, 2009). For example, the U.S. National Research Council, which carries out hundreds of scientific Climate change assessments | Review of the processes and procedures of the IPCC 51
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October 2010 Climate change assessm
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Climate change assessments
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Foreword In March 2010, the InterAc
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Contents Foreword iii Committee to
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Preface Since its founding more tha
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IAC report review This report was e
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Acknowledgements Community input wa
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management structure comprises the
Page 17 and 18: amount of evidence available and th
Page 19 and 20: 1. Introduction The Intergovernment
Page 21 and 22: assessment, they must carry out the
Page 23 and 24: Number of authors 1500 1200 900 600
Page 25 and 26: BOX 1.2 Roles of participants in IP
Page 27 and 28: The IPCC assessment process in brie
Page 29 and 30: Preparation of the Synthesis Report
Page 31 and 32: 2. Evaluation of IPCC’s assessmen
Page 33 and 34: authors are chosen and others are n
Page 35 and 36: efore incorporating them (Appendix
Page 37 and 38: ange of viewpoints offered and pote
Page 39 and 40: for rejected comments. In the case
Page 41 and 42: Summary for Policymakers A Summary
Page 43 and 44: in each of the three Working Group
Page 45 and 46: 3. IPCC’s evaluation of evidence
Page 47 and 48: Table 3.3 Likelihood scale used by
Page 49 and 50: models, conditional on the SRES sce
Page 51 and 52: 4. The likelihood scale used by Wor
Page 53 and 54: change. The area suitable for agric
Page 55 and 56: Fourth Assessment Report by present
Page 57 and 58: not consistently followed in the fo
Page 59 and 60: Recommendation ►The likelihood sc
Page 61 and 62: 4. Governance and management The IP
Page 63 and 64: The IPCC makes all of its major dec
Page 65 and 66: The IPCC Bureau The IPCC Bureau com
Page 67: Ismail A.R. El Gizouli (Sudan - Act
Page 71 and 72: were interviewed by the Committee o
Page 73 and 74: Working Groups and Technical Suppor
Page 75 and 76: Recommendation ►The IPCC should c
Page 77 and 78: 5. Conclusions IPCC’S processes a
Page 79 and 80: Editors could help them provide the
Page 81 and 82: Increasing transparency. Transparen
Page 83 and 84: making the assessment reports short
Page 85 and 86: esponded to the Committee’s quest
Page 87 and 88: dents have suggested testing the co
Page 89 and 90: References Agrawala, S., 1998a, Con
Page 91 and 92: Kahan, D., 2010, Fixing the communi
Page 93 and 94: Appendix A Letters of request to th
Page 95 and 96: Climate change assessments | Review
Page 97 and 98: Climate change assessments | Review
Page 99 and 100: Appendix B Questionnaire on IPCC pr
Page 101 and 102: F. Crooks, CSIR/SABS, South Africa
Page 103 and 104: Girma Orssengo, University of Weste
Page 105 and 106: Appendix D Excerpts of IPCC procedu
Page 107 and 108: IPCC review process (IPCC, 1999, Se
Page 109 and 110: 4.2.4.2 Second review (by governmen
Page 111 and 112: Plan to treat issues of uncertainty
Page 113 and 114: C. An order of magnitude can be giv
Page 115 and 116: 14. Likelihood, as defined in Table
Page 117 and 118: Appendix E Committee biographies Ha
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to 2001, he worked at the Frontier
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Appendix F Acronyms and abbreviatio
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IAC Secretariat Het Trippenhuis Klo
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