The IPCC Decides to Produce a Special Report on the Ocean

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), whose 43^rd working session came to a close on 13 April 2016 in Nairobi, has approved the drafting of three special reports (1), including a report on interaction between the climate, the ocean and the cryosphere. 

On the initiative of H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco, His Foundation approached the IPCC in February 2015, at the 41^st session, requesting it to produce a Special Report on the Ocean. 

For more than a year, the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation and the Prince's Government continued their efforts to stress the importance and relevance of this initiative.  This work was undertaken in partnership with the "Ocean and Climate Platform," bringing together almost 70 international players from the scientific world, civil society and the economic world, ahead of the COP 21 in Paris. 

"Ocean's Call for Climate," launched by the Platform, attracted more than 30,000 signatures requesting the signatory States to the United Nations Framework on Climate Change to place the ocean at the heart of climate issues. 

The major involvement of States in ocean/climate issues was confirmed at the COP 21, when 22 countries signed the "Because the Ocean" Declaration.  In particular, this Declaration, initiated by Monaco and Chile and personally signed by H.S.H. the Sovereign Prince, called upon the IPCC to produce a Special Report on the Ocean, in view of the worrying consequences of global warming and the increase in greenhouse gases and their effects on the oceans. 

Ocean acidification and rising sea levels are some of the effects that have a major impact on the life, economy and security of billions of people throughout the world. 

The inclusion in this report of issues linked to the melting cryosphere – the world of ice and the Poles – another subject of key importance for the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation - will provide extremely useful information to respond to issues raised by rising sea levels;  recent studies show that these could be much higher than expected. 

The IPCC's decision to produce a Special Report on the Ocean and the cryosphere is a very strong signal, encouraging the international community to continue its efforts with regard to good governance and the preservation of the oceans, and also to integrate these issues fully in national and international climate policies. 

This decision, which was reached thanks to the continued efforts of the Principality, is a major milestone for the ocean world. 

(1)   At these working sessions, the IPCC decided to produce three special reports:

• "The Impact of an Increase in Global Warming of 1.5° above the Preindustrial Era," a report requested by the UNFCCC in the Paris Agreement
• "Climate Change, Desertification, Land Use Changes and Food Security"
• "Climate Change, the Oceans and the Cryosphere."