2 dozen Indians among 650 experts picked to write next IPCC report
The IPCC assessment reports, or ARs, are the most comprehensive contemporary scientific understanding of the planet's climate system, the changes it is undergoing, and the impact it is having on the Earth and its inhabitants. These reports are produced in a five to seven years cycle and represent the state of knowledge of the climate system at that time. The different parts of the sixth assessment report, or AR6, were released between 2021 and 2023.
Like previous reports, the AR7 would comprise three working groups, each producing a report of its own — Working Group I on the physical science basis of climate change, Working Group II on impacts, adaptation and vulnerability, and Working Group III on mitigation of climate change.
There are nine Indian scientists and researchers in Working Group I and III and eight Working Group II. Three scientists from Pune-based Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, which hosts a Centre for Climate Change Research, are part of the group, the highest among Indian institutions. The Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, and the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS), have two people each in the list. Several of these have contributed to previous assessment reports as well. A few Indians are working in other countries.
A similar number of Indians, in the range of 20-30, have been part of the earlier assessment reports. The contributors to the assessment reports are initially nominated by country governments, which can propose as many names as they like.
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