WS 3.111: Elevating mountains in the IPCC seventh assessment (AR7)

Elevating mountains in assessments such as those conducted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) inevitably demands a concerted and collective interdisciplinary effort that responds to assessment-relevant knowledge needs. As the IPCC’s Second Assessment Report (SAR) did in the 1990s, the more recent IPCC Sixth Assessment (AR6) provided an opportunity to see much-awaited mountain-specific assessment content on climate change in mountains. Given the high visibility and momentum gathered to see mountains elevated in the IPCC AR6, and the importance of limiting paucity in regular and sustained assessment efforts, it is also incumbent on the mountain research community to help support and maintain these efforts in future assessments. In this session, we begin with invited inputs reflecting on lessons learnt from the IPCC AR6 process, including the assemblage and delivery of relevant knowledge products for the assessment and its uptake and impact in policy processes. We then reflect on the adopted scope of the IPCC’s seventh assessment (AR7) and identify opportunities for coordinated mountain-relevant knowledge products to offer critical inputs on mountains for the assessment outcomes. We conclude with the next steps needed for organising and developing outputs, including processes, methods, and recommendations from invited experts on topics such as detection and attribution, use of AI and machine learning for review and assessment tasks, impacts and risk assessments, and adaptation.