ABSTRACT

With the signing in 1992, of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its subsequent ratification by most countries, climate change became an important public policy issue. Scientific studies through research results and communiqués had helped put climate change on the political agenda but it is also clear that major climatic events and the advocacies of environmental groups also played important roles. The World Climate Research Programme, co-sponsored by the World Meteorological Organization1 and the International Council for Science2 (usually referred to by its earlier acronym ICSU), was originated in 1980 with two overarching objectives “to determine the predictability of climate; and to determine the effect of human activities on

climate.”3 The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission4 of UNESCO later became a co-sponsor. In 1986, the International Council for Science originated the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme with the research goals to: “analyze the interactive physical, chemical and biological processes that define Earth System dynamics; and to understand the changes that are occurring in these dynamics and the role of human activities on these changes.”5 These two projects formed the international scientific structure for research on climate change.