Two Griffith University academics are among the world’s best in climate change research to be named as authors in the next report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
The sixth instalment (AR6) of the world-leading independent report will feature Professor Brendan Mackey, director of the Griffith Climate Change Response Program at Griffith University, as a Coordinating Lead Author, and Dr Johanna Nalau, from the Griffith Institute For Tourism, who will be a Lead Author.
The role of the IPCC is to review the latest climate change research from the past five years and assess the scientific, technological and socio-economic findings from around the world. The key assessment findings are communicated through a series of reports including summaries for policy makers.
Three IPCC Working Groups will report on the physical science basis, the impacts, adaptation and vulnerability of climate change, and the mitigation of climate change respectively.
Professor Mackey will act as a Coordinating Lead Author of Chapter 11​ ​Australasia for Working Group II.
“Australia is already experiencing the impacts of a rapidly changing climate and the findings from our AR6 report will help clarify the climate risks in different sectors and the ways in which Australians are responding” Prof Mackey said.
Dr Nalau will bring her expertise on Pacific Islands through her work with the Griffith Institute for Tourism and the Griffith Climate Change Response Program to her role as a Lead Author for ​Chapter 15 Small Islands, which is also in Working Group II.
“The IPCC assessments give policy makers, experts, and communities a rigorous and comprehensive assessment of what we’ve learned about climate change and and climate adaptation to date, and what adaptation options are being implemented,” Dr Nalau said.
“Having the best of that information available and being able to contribute to that process is really an honour.”
For the AR6 report, the IPCC has selected 721 authors representing 90 different nationalities, with 37 from Australia. More than half of the authors will be contributing to the IPCC reporting process for the first time, and 67% are men, 33% are women.
The AR6 reports follow 2014’s AR5 reports and will be finalised in 2021, which will coincide with the first global stocktake under the UNFCCC Paris Agreement in 2022.
Recently,Griffith Institute for Tourism director Professor Susanne Becken served as the primary author of the newly unveiled Queensland Tourism Climate Change Response Plan.