Brussels, 30/03/2007 (Agence Europe) - It is in Brussels that the scientific experts from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will meet from 2-6 April to finalise and unveil their assessment report on climate impacts, adaptation and vulnerability.
This highly anticipated report will summarise the work of, and will in fact constitute the contribution from, working group n° II to the fourth scientific report of the IPCC. It is likely to paint a grim picture of the future for the world's poorest countries, which will be the most hard-hit by climate change. Its publication will come just a few weeks after the alarming projections of working group n°1 which shook political decision-makers and public opinion across the world alike on 2 February in Paris (EUROPE 9358). Osvaldo Canziani, the co-president of working group n°2 of IPCC will lead the opening ceremony of the works on 2 April (Charlemagne building, Brussels), which will be attended by, among others, Guy Verhofstadt, the Belgian prime minister, Stavros Dimas, the European environment commissioner, Rajendra Pachauri, the president of the IPCC and representatives of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
Greenpeace will attend the panel's meeting. The WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) will also use the occasion to publish a study which will highlight the dangers threatening ten of the planet's natural treasures, regions of priceless value in which NGOs are fighting on the ground to counter the effects of climate change. (an)