{"id":67335,"date":"2022-11-02T13:24:32","date_gmt":"2022-11-02T20:24:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=67335"},"modified":"2022-11-04T10:27:50","modified_gmt":"2022-11-04T17:27:50","slug":"ipcc-service-to-humanity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/ipcc-service-to-humanity\/","title":{"rendered":"Helping humanity through climate research\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Several NAU professors are part of a global team of climate scientists recently recognized for their service to humanity.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">In October, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was awarded the 2022 Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity. The IPCC, a body of the United Nations that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, provides regular, research-based reports on the impacts and future risks of climate change and options for adaptation and mitigation. NAU researchers on the most recent report, Assessment Report No. 6 (AR6), include:<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"2\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559684&quot;:-2,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Kevin Gurney<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">, professor in the School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems, is a lead author of Working Group III, which focuses on the mitigation of climate change.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"2\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559684&quot;:-2,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-aria-posinset=\"2\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Darrell Kaufman<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">, Regents\u2019 professor in the School of Earth and Sustainability, is a lead author of Working Group I, which focuses on the physical science of climate change.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"2\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559684&quot;:-2,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-aria-posinset=\"3\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Ted Schuur<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">, Regents\u2019 professor of ecosystem ecology and the Center for Ecosystem Science and Society (Ecoss), is a lead author for a special oceans\/cryosphere report and a contributing author to Working Group 1.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"2\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559684&quot;:-2,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-aria-posinset=\"3\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Michelle Mack<\/strong>, Regents&#8217; professor of ecosystem ecology, is a contributing author for the IPCC special report on oceans and cryosphere.<\/li>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"2\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559684&quot;:-2,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-aria-posinset=\"3\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Christina Sch\u00e4del<\/strong>, an adjunct professor in Ecoss, is a contributing author for the IPCC special report on oceans and cryosphere and a special report on warming of 1.5 degrees.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The award, presented by former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and a scientist herself, centers on IPCC\u2019s crucial role in communicating scientific knowledge and supporting governments as they study and implement measures to control climate change. It is an important recognition for the organization, Gurney said.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cThis award recognizes the important contribution that the IPCC, and science in general, make to understanding how climate change will impact humanity,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause climate change has progressed to a point of crisis, the implications for humanity are more serious than they have ever been.\u201d<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">All the report authors contribute on a voluntary basis in addition to the individual research they do. The research is obviously important, but so is educating people about what the research says, Kaufman said.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cI volunteered to help write the IPCC climate report because I aspired to make the latest scientific knowledge available to the world\u2019s governments as they confront the grand challenge of climate change,\u201d he said. \u201cFor the IPCC scientific community to be awarded this high-level international \u2018prize for humanity\u2019 is strong recognition of the role of science in helping to solve major societal issues.\u201d<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Gurney focused on a chapter about urban systems. He wrote sections of the report, reviewed sections from other authors and approved final content for the chapter. His chapter focused on how urban areas dominate the emission of greenhouse gases globally, which means that solutions to these emissions must be operable in cities.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Kaufman\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/ipcc\/\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">chapter<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> focused on the changing state of climate systems prior to industrialization as context for understanding both what\u2019s happening now with climate change and what we can expect to happen in the future. He also co-authored his working group\u2019s report FAQs and summary documents.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Schuur\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/schuur-ipcc-report\/\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">contributions<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> focused on a chapter about polar regions, which included the Arctic and Antarctic oceans, ice, glaciers and permafrost. The report demonstrated that sea levels rose twice as fast in the last two decades as the previous century, putting coastal communities <\/span>worldwide<span data-contrast=\"auto\">, including many Indigenous communities in the Arctic, at even greater risk. Sch\u00e4del worked on this research as well, including on research that expanded the Permafrost Carbon Network to better track carbon flux in permafrost regions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">In addition to synthesizing permafrost carbon and climate research, Schuur and the other authors worked with government delegates to ensure the report communicated the most important assessments so decision-makers can take steps to adapt and manage risks.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cThe IPCC synthesis reports provided the crucial science foundation in order for U.S. policymakers to take action on climate change, which they have in the form of the infrastructure bill and the Inflation Reduction Act,\u201d Schuur said. \u201cThese congressional acts in the past two years directly provide funding to reduce U.S. carbon emissions, putting us one step in the right direction in order to avoid dangerous climate change.\u201d<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Mack&#8217;s contributions to the IPCC report had to do with understanding impacts of increasing disturbances in the Arctic, such as wildfire or abrupt permafrost thaw, and how these can accelerate or slow terrestrial feedbacks to climate change. Her research has demonstrated that the unprecedented release of stored carbon is too often left out of current forecasts of Arctic feedback to global warming.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is worth considering the implications of increasingly frequent and large wildfires for the fate of carbon that is currently locked away in the permafrost soils and sediments that underlie much of the Arctic,&#8221; she said. &#8220;This increased combustion of the insulating peat layer in this part of the world can expose more permafrost and lead to the thaw and decomposition of an even larger reservoir of organic matter, releasing carbon that has been stored underground for centuries or even millennia.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Other themes of the report include:<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"1\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559684&quot;:-2,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-aria-posinset=\"1\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Climate change is now being felt directly by humankind and the natural systems on which we rely. This is punctuated by the impact of climate change on extreme events, making events like hurricanes and floods more frequent and more extreme.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"1\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559684&quot;:-2,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-aria-posinset=\"2\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">We will require a mixture of mitigation through both removing greenhouses gases from the atmosphere and reducing the amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere, while adapting our society to avoid the negative contributors to climate change.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">They are all big, complicated, multi-pronged action items that require action from governments at all levels and throughout the world, especially knowing most emissions come from the Global North and the Global South is experiencing more of the extreme effects of climate change\u2014though even the wealthier nations are starting to feel the effects.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cThe IPCC reports are crucial to establish the basis of knowledge on climate change and how it can be both mitigated and adapted to,\u201d Gurney said. \u201cThese reports remain the most authoritative synthesis of what is known on climate change and continue to be critical inputs to global decision-making.\u201d<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Gurney has done significant research into urban emissions, including <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/gurney-co2-emissions\/\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">mapping carbon dioxide emissions<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> with the goal of informing state and city governments about how much their urban areas were contributing and measuring the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/gurney-lockdown-emissions\/\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">decline in emissions during COVID lockdowns<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> in 2020, when many people stopped commuting to work. The goal, as with the IPCC reports, is to give decision-makers accurate, current information so they can have a clear picture of the problem as they work to solve it.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Several other NAU scientists have served on IPCC working groups and\/or contributed research to previous IPCC reports as well, including Regents\u2019 professor\u202f<\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Scott Goetz<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">. All NAU scientists\u2019 efforts for the IPCC are voluntary.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"search-results-excerpt-link\" href=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/ipcc-service-to-humanity\/\">Several NAU professors are part of a global team of climate scientists recently recognized for their service to humanity.\u00a0 In October, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was awarded the 2022 Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity. The IPCC, a body of the United Nations that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, provides regular, research-based&hellip;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":67336,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-academics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}