SciDev.Net

Friday, 27 November 2009

Climate change in China

Definitions

I

Infra-red Radiation

The heat energy emitted from all solids, liquids, and gases. In the context of the greenhouse issue, the term refers to the heat energy emitted by the Earth's surface and its atmosphere. Greenhouse gases strongly absorb this radiation in the Earth's atmosphere, and re-radiate some back towards the surface, creating the greenhouse effect.

Integrated Assessment

A method of analysis that combines results and models from the physical, biological, economic and social sciences, and the interactions between these components, in a consistent framework, to project the consequences of climate change and the policy responses to it. [Source: IPCC]

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

The IPCC was established jointly by the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Meteorological Organization in 1988. Its purpose is to assess information in the scientific and technical literature related to all significant components of the issue of climate change. The IPCC draws upon hundreds of expert scientists as authors and thousands as expert reviewers. Leading experts on climate change and environmental, social, and economic sciences from some 60 nations have helped the IPCC to prepare periodic assessments of the scientific underpinnings for understanding global climate change and its consequences. With its capacity for reporting on climate change, its consequences, and the viability of adaptation and mitigation measures, the IPCC is also looked to as the official advisory body to the world's governments on the state of the science of the climate change issue. [Source: IPCC]

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