University of California Science Delegation to Participate in Major International Climate Change Meeting

Ten of the top experts from the University of California (UC) and other leading institutions involved in many aspects of global climate change research will participate in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP-6) taking place in The Hague, Netherlands, Nov. 13-24. In a unique role, the scientists are part of a formal nongovernmental organization (NGO) accredited to the negotiations process to provide objective science input and to act as "honest brokers" in addressing scientific questions that may arise within national delegations, media groups, and other participating organizations.

The science delegation will present a special event titled "Science and the Negotiations: Carbon Sinks, Greenhouse Gases, Climate Modeling, and Uncertainties," which will provide objective scientific discussions, updates, and presentations on global climate change issues. The event will take place on Thursday, Nov. 16, at 6 p.m. at COP-6. The scientists are part of the newly established University of California Revelle Program on Climate Science and Policy (UCRP), an NGO that has been formed to foster interaction among scientists, social scientists, and policy makers.

The discussions and presentations are designed to provide scientific research to policy makers, delegates, and science advisors participating in ongoing, international climate change negotiations. The UC Revelle Program enables the world's leading climate scientists and social science researchers in the University of California system, along with their national and international colleagues, to educate and inform decision makers in government and the private sector, while identifying opportunities for natural and social science to address societal needs.

Participating in the UCRP science delegation at COP-6 is Ray Weiss, professor
of geochemistry at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego; Richard Somerville, professor of meteorology at Scripps Institution of Oceanography; Ronald Amundson, professor in the Division of Ecosystem Sciences at UC Berkeley; Jayant Sathaye, senior staff scientist and group leader in the International Studies Group at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Christopher Field, professor of plant biology at the Carnegie Institution of Washington at Stanford University; Charles Kolstad, Bren Professor of Environmental Economics and Policy at the UC Santa Barbara Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management; A. P. Mitra, National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi, India; Ronald Prinn, TEPCO Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; V. Ramanathan, professor, director of the Center for Atmospheric Sciences at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and principal investigator for the Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX); and Mark Thiemens, dean of the Division of Natural Sciences at UC San Diego.
 

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University of California Revelle Program on Climate Science and Policy (UCRP)

The UC Revelle Program (UCRP) is designed to improve communication and enhance the impact of natural and social science on the issue of global climate change. The program does not take policy positions or make policy recommendations. Rather, it endeavors to identify important scientific research relevant to policy issues and to make this science readily available, in an understandable form, to nonscientific audiences. The UCRP stimulates interaction between natural scientists and researchers in the social sciences and law. It enables scientists to learn about the policy-making process and how scientific results are taken into account in deliberations, as well as to provide policy makers with timely scientific knowledge needed for those deliberations.

The UC Revelle Program is led by Scripps Institution of Oceanography of UC San Diego;
the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC), a multicampus research center of the University of California; and the UC San Diego Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies (IR/PS). Scripps is a world leader in research on climate science and the role of the oceans in the earth system. IGCC draws on science and social science experts throughout the UC system and other institutions in order to create bridges between the academic and policy communities. IR/PS provides graduate education and research in international environmental and economic policy issues relevant to climate change. Funding for the Revelle Program is also provided by the University of California Office of the President.