"The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 is to be shared, in two equal parts, between the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Albert Arnold (Al) Gore Jr. for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change. (...)

By awarding the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 to the IPCC and Al Gore, the Norwegian Nobel Committee is seeking to contribute to a sharper focus on the processes and decisions that appear to be necessary to protect the world’s future climate, and thereby to reduce the threat to the security of mankind. Action is necessary now, before climate change moves beyond man’s control."

Oslo, 12 October 2007

Climate Change 2007 – Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability provides the most comprehensive and up-to-date scientific assessment of the impacts of climate change, the vulnerability of natural and human environments, and the potential for response through adaptation. The report:

• evaluates evidence that recent observed changes in climate have already affected a variety of physical and biological systems and concludes that these effects can be attributed to global warming;
• makes a detailed assessment of the impacts of future climate change and sea-level rise on ecosystems, water resources, agriculture and food security, human health, coastal and low-lying regions and industry and settlements;
• provides a complete new assessment of the impacts of climate change on major regions of the world (Africa, Asia, Australia/New Zealand, Europe, Latin America, North America, polar regions and small islands);
• considers responses through adaptation;
• explores the synergies and trade-offs between adaptation and mitigation;
• evaluates the key vulnerabilities to climate change, and assesses aggregate damage levels and the role of multiple stresses.

This latest assessment by the IPCC will form the standard scientific reference for all those concerned with the consequences of climate change, including students and researchers in ecology, biology, hydrology, environmental science, economics, social science, natural resource management, public health, food security and natural hazards, and policymakers and managers in governments, industry and other organisations responsible for resources likely to be affected by climate change.