IPCC’s Special report on climate change and land: What’s in it for Africa?
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its Climate Change and Land: An IPCC Special Report on climate change, deserti cation, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas uxes in terrestrial ecosystems in 2019.
The Special Report was a response to proposals from governments and observer organisations to the IPCC. It assesses the existing science to date on how greenhouse gases are released and absorbed by land-based ecosystems, and the science on land use and sustainable land management in relation to climate change adaptation and mitigation, deserti cation, land degradation and food security. The findings are of great importance to decision-makers across Africa and the world.
This publication offers a guide to the IPCC’s Special Report on Climate Change and Land prepared for decision-makers in Africa by the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN), Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and SouthSouthNorth (SSN). This is not an official IPCC publication.
The IPCC’s own Summary for Policy-Makers focuses principally on global issues and trends. This report distils the richest material available on Africa from the 1,300 pages of the Special Report. The publication has not been through the comprehensive governmental approval process that IPCC endorsement requires. However, the expert research team has benefited from review by IPCC lead authors in their personal capacities and other expert reviewers to ensure delity to the original report.