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The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a body established by two UN agencies: the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environmental Programme in 1988 to assess scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant for the understanding of climate change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation, mitigation. The governing body of the IPCC is a panel that meets in plenary sessions about once a year. The panel adopts IPCC reports and decides on work plans for the working groups, the structure of reports, on budgetary matters and procedures. A secretariat, which is hosted by the WMO in Geneva, oversees the day-to-day operations of the group. The International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change is a global network of social scientists concerned with the promotion of research on the human dimensions of global environmental change. The International Maritime Organization is a specialized agency of the UN concerned with the international regulation of shipping, the preservation of the marine environment.