completed· Climate

Supporting partners contribution to IPCC special report on impacts of 1.5 degree Celsius warming

In its Paris Agreement, the 21st Conference of Parties (COP 21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) invited the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to provide a special report in 2018 on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways. The report will help UNFCC take stock of collective efforts towards “holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 C”. There is a significant research gap on the nature, benefits and feasibility of a 1.5 C warmer world, and the existing literature does not take a strongly regional or “hot-spot” approach. However, the Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia’s work has the potential to provide strong regional inputs to the 2018 Special Report. CARIAA consortia agreed on a three-phase strategy aimed at producing high-quality, demand-driven peer-reviewed journal articles for consideration by the IPCC special report authors. The resulting project is partially funded though the Opportunities and Synergies Fund, which is a competitive process promoting cross-consortia collaboration within the CARIAA program. A collaboration between the University of Southampton, University of Cape Town, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, and the Overseas Development Institute, this project will support the analyses and associated scientific activities aimed at examining consortia results across climate science, biophysical and economic impacts, vulnerability, and policy in light of 1.5 C concerns. Activities include the presentation of research findings at preparatory conferences; participation at a 1.5 C side event at COP22 organized by IDRC and a UNFCCC Party; production of a range of products, including at least 3 peer-reviewed articles on the impacts and implications of 1.5 C versus 2 C warming in each hotspot; a synthesis publication (peer-reviewed for journals or popular magazines) drawing together evidence from hotspots; and policy briefs on 1.5 C for national and regional negotiating groups. The Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA) aims to help build the resilience of poor people to climate change by supporting a network of consortia to conduct high-calibre research and policy engagement in hot spots in Africa and Asia. It is jointly funded by the UK’s Department for International Development and IDRC.