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This manual intends to provide countries with a practical tool on using climate information in their decision-making processes. In particular it addresses the issues of adaptation planning under uncertainty of observed and projected climate change. It discusses the level of requirement for climate information in the decision-making process and, where possible, it provides examples and practical steps to illustrate the application of climate information.

This manual assists planners working at the sub-national levels to identify and map the nature of current and future vulnerability to long-term climate change so that appropriate policies and intervention can be designed and implemented. The manual is part of a series of practical guidance documents and toolkits UNDP is developing to support national and sub-national governments on their preparation of low-emission, climate-resilient development strategies. This series of publications is intended to empower sub-national planners to take action, and to prepare their territories to adapt, and hopefully thrive, under changing climatic conditions.

This manual builds on a large range of UNDP’s ongoing initiatives to support adaptation to climate change. It is part of a series intended to empower decision makers to take action, and to prepare their territories to adapt, and hopefully thrive, under changing climatic conditions. The guidebook aims to empower project managers and decision makers to engage in discussions on climate-scenario development, including involvement in science-based decisions on the availability, applicability, and robustness of various climate-scenario approaches. This publication focuses on the formulation of climate-change scenarios as a tool to inform low-emission climate-resilient development strategies.

This manual serves as the Executive Summary to a series of manuals and guidebooks of various lengths that UNDP is offering in support of low-emission climate-resilient development strategies (LECRDS).

This technical document includes the IPCC Second Assessment Synthesis and the Summaries for Policymakers of the three Working Groups.

This technical document, which forms part of the Second Assessment Report (SAR), has been produced by Working Group III of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and focuses on the socioeconomic aspects of climate change. It consists of 11 chapters covering the scope of the analysis, decision making under uncertainty, equity issues, intertemporal equity and discounting, applicability of cost and benefit assessments to climate change, social costs of climate change, response options, conceptual issues related to estimating mitigation costs, review of mitigation cost studies, integrated assessment of climate change, and an economic assessment of policy options to address climate change.

This technical document includes an evaluation, conducted fully and independently by the GEF Evaluation Office with support from the GEF Secretariat, GEF Agencies, governments, and civil society organizations. The purpose of the evaluation is to provide lessons and experiences from implementation of the first climate change adaptation strategy supported by the GEF and thereby assist the GEF Council in making further decisions on adaptation. It included four areas of assessment: 1) relevance of the strategy to the GEF mandate and focal areas, as well as to countries’ national sustainable development and adaptation agenda; 2) effectiveness of the proposed adaptation measures; 3) efficiency of project development and management in implementing the strategy; 4) results of the strategy and projects thus far as well as their sustainability.

This technical document, which forms part of the Second Assessment Report (SAR), has been produced by Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and focuses on potential impacts of climate change, adaptive responses, and measures that could mitigate future emissions. It consists of 25 chapters covering a wide range of ecological systems and socioeconomic sectors and activities. It also includes brief descriptions of three appendices—two sets of guidelines or methodologies for assessing the potential efficacy of adaptation and mitigation strategies, and an inventory of technology databases and information.

This technical document, which forms part of the Second Assessment Report (SAR), has been produced by Working Group I of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and focuses on the science of climate change. It consists of 11 chapters covering the physical climate system, the factors that drive climate change, analyses of past climate and projections of future climate change, and detection and attribution of human influence on recent climate.

This technical document is the fourth and final part of the Third Assessment Report (TAR) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It draws together and integrates for the benefit of policy makers, and others, and in response to questions identified by governments and subsequently agreed by the IPCC, information that has been approved and/or accepted by the IPCC. It is intended to assist governments, individually and collectively, in formulating appropriate adaptation and mitigation responses to the threat of human-induced climate change.

This technical document has been produced by Working Group III (WGIII) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and is the third part of Climate Change 2001, the Third Assessment Report (TAR) of the IPCC. It focuses on the mitigation of climate change. It consists of 10 chapters covering the technological and biological options to mitigate climate change, their costs and ancillary benefits, the barriers to their implementation, and policies, measures and instruments to overcome these barriers.

This technical document has been produced by Working Group II (WGII) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and is the second part of Climate Change 2001, the Third Assessment Report (TAR) of the IPCC. It focuses on the environmental, social, and economic consequences of climate change and potential adaptation responses. It consists of 19 chapters covering the sensitivity, adaptive capacity, and vulnerability of natural and human systems to climate change, and the potential impacts and adaptation options at regional and global scales.

This technical document has been produced by Working Group I (WGI) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and is the first part of Climate Change 2001, the Third Assessment Report (TAR) of the IPCC. It focuses on the science of climate change. It consists of 14 chapters covering the physical climate system, the factors that drive climate change, analyses of past climate and projections of future climate change, and detection and attribution of human influences on recent climate.

This technical document provides an integrated view of climate change as the final part of the IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report (AR4). Topic 1 summarises observed changes in climate and their effects on natural and human systems, regardless of their causes, while Topic 2 assesses the causes of the observed changes. Topic 3 presents projections of future climate change and related impacts under different scenarios. Topic 4 discusses adaptation and mitigation options over the next few decades and their interactions with sustainable development. Topic 5 assesses the relationship between adaptation and mitigation on a more conceptual basis and takes a longer-term perspective. Topic 6 summarises the major robust findings and remaining key uncertainties in this assessment.

This technical document includes the contribution of Working Group III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It presents an analysis of costs, policies and technologies that could be used to limit and/or prevent emissions of greenhouse gases, along with a range of activities to remove these gases from the atmosphere. It recognizes that a portfolio of adaptation and mitigation actions is required to reduce the risks of climate change. It also has broadened the assessment to include the relationship between sustainable development and climate change mitigation.

This technical document includes the contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It provides a comprehensive and up-to-date scientific assessment of the impacts of climate change, the vulnerability of natural and human environments, and the potential for response through adaptation. It builds upon past IPCC assessments and incorporates new knowledge gained since the Third Assessment.

This technical document includes Working Group I contribution to the IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report (AR4). It describes progress in understanding of the human and natural drivers of climate change, observed climate change, climate processes and attribution, and estimates of projected future climate change. It builds upon past IPCC assessments and incorporates new findings from six years of research. Scientific progress since the Third Assessment Report (TAR) is based upon large amounts of new and more comprehensive data, more sophisticated analyses of data, improvements in understanding of processes and their simulation in models and more extensive exploration of uncertainty ranges.

This policy document is targeted at National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) around the world that need to deal with practical questions on extremes and provide information services for climate change adaptation strategies. It responds to the need of WMO Members to enhance climate monitoring capabilities for the generation of higher quality and new types of products and services. However, it is important to note that this document does not cover every type of extreme. It focuses on weather and climate extremes that are defined as rare events within the statistical reference distribution of particular weather elements at a particular place. The extremes considered are for weather elements that are monitored daily, such as temperature and precipitation.

This technical document provides guidelines with the aim to provide managers and operators of climate monitoring networks with a set of recommended procedures/practices by which change can be managed in the observational programs in a manner that best maintains the required integrity of the climate record.

This technical document discusses in detail various considerations in the calculation of climatological normals. It also includes a comprehensive evaluation of the predictive capabilities of normals of various lengths and frequencies of updating, an assessment of possible statistical descriptors of climate over and above traditional climatological normals, and a discussion of uncertainties arising from data inhomogeneities and gaps.