Nobel Peace Prize shared
[ The University of Melbourne Voice Vol. 1, No. 17
29 October - 12 November 2007 ] By Rebecca Scott
The scientific contributions of University of Melbourne Federation Fellow Professor David Karoly (Earth Sciences) and colleagues around the world have been recognised in the award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and US climate change activist Al Gore.
The IPCC and Al Gore were named joint recipients of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize “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”.
Professor Karoly was heavily involved in the preparation of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, as a Lead Author of the chapter ‘Assessment of observed changes and responses in natural and managed systems’, and an author of its Summary for Policy Makers.
“It is critical that the issues of climate change are better understood and addressed globally,” says Professor Karoly.
“I am thrilled to have contributed to the work of the IPCC and for the organisation to be jointly awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. This is very rewarding for all who have contributed.”
The IPCC Fourth Assessment Report included a series of reports prepared by three Working Groups: I) The Physical Science Basis, II) Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, and III) Mitigation.
Professor Karoly was one of only two scientists to be heavily involved in both Working Groups I and II. He was identified also as a link person to encourage communication between the groups and was part of a select group of scientists asked to write a summary of the entire report.
The summary integrates the information around six key topics and is designed to be useful to policy makers, researchers and students alike.
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