- Email: [email protected]
ICSU, WMO, UNEP joint advisory group on greenhouse gases
229.
ICSU, WMO, UNEP JOINT ADVISORY GROUP ON GREENHOUSE GASES”“’
Geneva, Switzerland l-2 July 1986 An Advisory Group on Greenhouse Gasesc3@ (AGGG) has been jointly established by ICSU, UNEP and WMO, to ensure adequate follow-up of the recommendations of the international Conference on the Assessment of the Role of Carbon Dioxide and other Greenhouse Gases in Climate Variations and Associated Impacts, held in Villach, Austria, in October 1985. The AGGG, which met at the WMO Headquarters in Geneva on l-2 July 1986 under the Chairmanship of Professor K. Hare (Canada), strongly supported the statement from the 1985 Villach Conference that the effects of increases in carbon dioxide (CO,) and other trace gases that cause the greenhouse effect, such as methane, chlorofluorocarbons (CFC), oxides of nitrogen, could produce increases in global mean temperature between 1.5’ and 45°C in the first half of the next century; the corresponding rise of sea level (because of the expansion of ocean water) might reach between 20 and 140 centimetres. The results of ongoing research presented since the Viach Conference (such as the decreases of concentration over the Antarctic and asymmetry in the responses of the oceans in the southern ocean around Antarctica and the northern oceans around the Arctic) heightens the urgency of the concern expressed in Villach. The AGGG will carry out two main tasks: (1) biennial reviews of international and regional studies related to greenhouse gases, and (2) periodic assessments of the rates of increases in the concentrations of greenhouse gases and the effects of such increases. The Advisory Group was particularly conscious of the need to develop a mechanism that would provide information on recent developments to a wide audience. The AGGG stressed the need to improve our basic understanding of the climate system and its response to both natural and man-made forcing mechanisms. Since the ozone depletion problem and the greenhouse gas problem are interlinked through the impact of the same chemicals, the Group urged that the study of these two questions be combined. In the light of the Villach recommendations for further studies of the socio-economic impacts of climate change, it was suggested that studies should be carried out or reinforced in a number of areas, such as the monsoon region of S.E. Asia, the Great Lakes region of N. America; Europe and the circum-polar region of the Arctic. The AGGG suggested that there are two preventive measures that should be considered to alleviate the problem: (i) Energy conservation measures, ““Reprinted from ICSU Newsletter No. 26 of August 1986. “H)Greenhouse Gases is an informal term used for all radiatively active constituents in the atmosphere, including aerosols, which collectively tend to increase the temperature of the lower atmosphere and of the Earth.
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especially those increasing the efficiency of energy use; (ii) substitution for CFC’s in a number of uses for which alternatives are available. This would help because the CFC’s have not only become the second most important group of greenhouse gases after CO, but they also have deleterious effects on the ozone layer. In this connection, consideration should also be given to the need for developing international agreements for the control of the CFC’s. The members of AGGG are: Chairman K. Hare (Canada), B. Bohn (Sweden), G. Golitsyn (USSR), G. Goodman (U.K.), M. Kassas (Egypt), S. Manabe (U.S.A.) and G. White (U.S.A.) The Chairman of the Wlach Conference, J. Bruce (Canada), participated in the first meeting of the AGGG.
2.30. BCIENTIFIC COMMllTEE ON PROBLEMS OF THE ENVIRONMENT @COPE)
Aims and Criteria The Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) is an international non-governmental, non-profit organization established in 1969. The objectives of SCOPE are to advance knowledge of the influence of humans on their environment, as well as the effects of these environmental changes upon people, their health and their welfare, with particular attention to those influences and effects which are either global or shared by several nations; to serve as a non-governmental, interdisciplinary and international council of scientists and as a source of advice for the benefit of governments and intergovernmental and non-governmental bodies with respect to environmental problems. The Committee seeks to identify problems of global concern and intends to make a useful contribution to the understanding of such problems. In choosing what it will and will not do, SCOPE has been governed by five basic criteria. Their application -not always consistent-had led to its concentrating on a few topics of special interest: 1. SCOPE emphasizes the stimulation of new approaches, synthesizing existing information, organizing balanced appraisals, and pointing out more important research needs. SCOPE should not engage directly in research at bench or field levels. 2. SCOPE deals with scientific problems that have major significance on the world environmental scene. 3. At the same time, SCOPE concentrates on problems which offer some promise of manageable action within anticipated constraints of personnel and funds, undertaking only what can be accomplished in a reasonable period of years. 4. SCOPE stresses those activities which are genuinely international, nongovernmental, and interdisciplinary. National topics can be tackled at that 111
ICSU, WMO, UNEP JOINT ADVISORY GROUP ON GREENHOUSE GASES”“’
Geneva, Switzerland l-2 July 1986 An Advisory Group on Greenhouse Gasesc3@ (AGGG) has been jointly established by ICSU, UNEP and WMO, to ensure adequate follow-up of the recommendations of the international Conference on the Assessment of the Role of Carbon Dioxide and other Greenhouse Gases in Climate Variations and Associated Impacts, held in Villach, Austria, in October 1985. The AGGG, which met at the WMO Headquarters in Geneva on l-2 July 1986 under the Chairmanship of Professor K. Hare (Canada), strongly supported the statement from the 1985 Villach Conference that the effects of increases in carbon dioxide (CO,) and other trace gases that cause the greenhouse effect, such as methane, chlorofluorocarbons (CFC), oxides of nitrogen, could produce increases in global mean temperature between 1.5’ and 45°C in the first half of the next century; the corresponding rise of sea level (because of the expansion of ocean water) might reach between 20 and 140 centimetres. The results of ongoing research presented since the Viach Conference (such as the decreases of concentration over the Antarctic and asymmetry in the responses of the oceans in the southern ocean around Antarctica and the northern oceans around the Arctic) heightens the urgency of the concern expressed in Villach. The AGGG will carry out two main tasks: (1) biennial reviews of international and regional studies related to greenhouse gases, and (2) periodic assessments of the rates of increases in the concentrations of greenhouse gases and the effects of such increases. The Advisory Group was particularly conscious of the need to develop a mechanism that would provide information on recent developments to a wide audience. The AGGG stressed the need to improve our basic understanding of the climate system and its response to both natural and man-made forcing mechanisms. Since the ozone depletion problem and the greenhouse gas problem are interlinked through the impact of the same chemicals, the Group urged that the study of these two questions be combined. In the light of the Villach recommendations for further studies of the socio-economic impacts of climate change, it was suggested that studies should be carried out or reinforced in a number of areas, such as the monsoon region of S.E. Asia, the Great Lakes region of N. America; Europe and the circum-polar region of the Arctic. The AGGG suggested that there are two preventive measures that should be considered to alleviate the problem: (i) Energy conservation measures, ““Reprinted from ICSU Newsletter No. 26 of August 1986. “H)Greenhouse Gases is an informal term used for all radiatively active constituents in the atmosphere, including aerosols, which collectively tend to increase the temperature of the lower atmosphere and of the Earth.
110
especially those increasing the efficiency of energy use; (ii) substitution for CFC’s in a number of uses for which alternatives are available. This would help because the CFC’s have not only become the second most important group of greenhouse gases after CO, but they also have deleterious effects on the ozone layer. In this connection, consideration should also be given to the need for developing international agreements for the control of the CFC’s. The members of AGGG are: Chairman K. Hare (Canada), B. Bohn (Sweden), G. Golitsyn (USSR), G. Goodman (U.K.), M. Kassas (Egypt), S. Manabe (U.S.A.) and G. White (U.S.A.) The Chairman of the Wlach Conference, J. Bruce (Canada), participated in the first meeting of the AGGG.
2.30. BCIENTIFIC COMMllTEE ON PROBLEMS OF THE ENVIRONMENT @COPE)
Aims and Criteria The Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) is an international non-governmental, non-profit organization established in 1969. The objectives of SCOPE are to advance knowledge of the influence of humans on their environment, as well as the effects of these environmental changes upon people, their health and their welfare, with particular attention to those influences and effects which are either global or shared by several nations; to serve as a non-governmental, interdisciplinary and international council of scientists and as a source of advice for the benefit of governments and intergovernmental and non-governmental bodies with respect to environmental problems. The Committee seeks to identify problems of global concern and intends to make a useful contribution to the understanding of such problems. In choosing what it will and will not do, SCOPE has been governed by five basic criteria. Their application -not always consistent-had led to its concentrating on a few topics of special interest: 1. SCOPE emphasizes the stimulation of new approaches, synthesizing existing information, organizing balanced appraisals, and pointing out more important research needs. SCOPE should not engage directly in research at bench or field levels. 2. SCOPE deals with scientific problems that have major significance on the world environmental scene. 3. At the same time, SCOPE concentrates on problems which offer some promise of manageable action within anticipated constraints of personnel and funds, undertaking only what can be accomplished in a reasonable period of years. 4. SCOPE stresses those activities which are genuinely international, nongovernmental, and interdisciplinary. National topics can be tackled at that 111