There is a formidable literature
on the use of data and scenarios in VIA assessments, and this guidance
does not seek to repeat earlier extensive reviews (e.g. see Carter et
al., 2001; Carter et al., 2007; Mearns et al., 2001; Rounsevell and
Metzger, 2010). In 1996 the IPCC formed TGICA, a special cross-Working
Group committee charged with making relevant data and scenarios
assessed by the IPCC accessible to the climate change research
community worldwide. TGICA has prepared a number of guidance documents
on data and scenarios (e.g. IPCC-TGICA, 2007; Nicholls et al., 2011),
regional workshops have been arranged on the topic (e.g. Leary et al.,
2009) and the IPCC Data Distribution Centre (
http://www.ipcc-data.org/)
was established to facilitate the timely distribution of consistent
data and scenarios for use in VIA and mitigation assessments that can
ultimately feed into the IPCC assessment process.
Aside
from the DDC, many governments, national and international agencies are
now investing heavily in the provision of data and scenario support for
climate change research. Such provision of information is increasingly
being referred to as "climate services", associated with an initiative
launched in 2009 by the World Meteorological Organization (Global
Framework for Climate Services,
see:
http://www.wmo.int/hlt-gfcs/).
Examples
of portals offering data and information include:
- Global:
The World Bank Climate Change Data Portal (http://sdwebx.worldbank.org/climateportal/index.cfm)
provides information on climate and impacts, an adaptation-screening
tool and some limited coverage of mitigation.
- Global
(developing countries): UNDP Climate Change Country
Profiles (http://country-profiles.geog.ox.ac.uk/),
posted at the University of Oxford, UK, offer information on observed
and projected climate for 52 developing countries.
- Africa: Climate
Information Portal (http://cip.csag.uct.ac.za/webclient/introduction)
of the Climate Systems Analysis Group, University of Cape Town,
provides climate information and scenarios for Africa, Asia and
globally (in English)
- Asia and the
Pacific: Climate Change Adaptation in Asia and the
Pacific (http://www.asiapacificadapt.net/)
is a collaborative portal co-ordinated by the Adaptation Knowledge
Forum and the Asia Pacific Adaptation Network, offering information to
support climate change adaptation in the Asia and Pacific region (in
English).
- Europe:
The
European Climate Adaptation Platform, CLIMATE-ADAPT (http://climate-adapt.eea.europa.eu/),
is a portal operating under the auspices of the European Environment
Agency and offers links to European and national climate, impacts and
adaptation information (in English).
- Australia:
OzClim (http://www.csiro.au/ozclim/home.do)
is a tool for generating climate change scenarios for Australia (in
English).
- Canada:
The
public funded national Canadian Climate Change Scenarios Network (http://cccsn.ca/) offers a
mapping tool for providing climate projections; the
Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium (http://www.pacificclimate.org/)
is a regional climate services centre providing information on climate
and impacts for the Pacific and Yukon regions; the private, non-profit
consortium, Ouranus (http://www.ouranos.ca/en/),
co-ordinates projects and information provision on regional climate and
adaptation for Quebec and other regions of Canada (in English and
French).
- Caribbean:
The
Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (http://www.caribbeanclimate.bz/)
provides regional climate data and projections and information and
advice on adaptation responses.
- Central America: The
SERVE (www.servir.net/cambio_climatico)
project for Mesoamerica provides regional climate change
- Denmark: Climate
data and scenarios supplied by the Danish Meteorological Institute
through the Climate Change Adaptation portal (http://www.klimatilpasning.dk/en-US/Sider/ClimateChangeAdaptation.aspx)
(in Danish and English).
- Finland:
The national portal Climateguide.fi (http://climateguide.fi/),
co-ordinated by the Finnish Meteorological Institute, Finnish
Environment Institute and Aalto University provides data and
information on climate, impacts, adaptation and mitigation (in Finnish,
Swedish and English).
- Germany:
The Federal Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt) web portal KomPass
(Kompetenzzentrum, Klimafolgen und Anpassung) (http://www.anpassung.net/cln_115/nn_700712/DE/Home/)
and the government-funded Climate Service Center – Germany (http://www.climate-service-center.de/)
(in German with limited coverage in English).
- Netherlands: Climate
services, including climate scenarios, provided by the Royal
Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) (http://www.knmi.nl/research/climate_services/)
and accessible from the Dutch climate change portal Platform
Communication on Climate Change (PCCC) (http://www.klimaatportaal.nl/pro1/general/home.asp)
(in Dutch and English).
- Norway: Climate
scenarios provided by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute (http://senorge.no/)
and
accessible from the Norwegian Climate Change
Adaptation Programme
web portal hosted by the Norwegian Ministry of the Environment (http://www.regjeringen.no/en/dep/md/kampanjer/engelsk-forside-for-klimatilpasning.html?id=539980)
(in Norwegian and English).
- Spain: Climate
scenarios prepared by the State
Meteorological Agency of Spain (http://www.aemet.es/es/elclima/cambio_climat/proyeccione)
in support of the Spanish National Climate Change Adaptation Plan (in
Spanish).
- United Kingdom: The
UK Government has produced five sets
of official climate projections since 1991, the most recent being
UKCP09 (Murphy
et al., 2009), and one set of socio-economic scenarios in 2001 (UKCIP,
2001). These are distributed by UKCIP (http://www.ukcip.org.uk/tools/)
(in English). There have also been critical reviews of the
effectiveness of both the climate scenarios (Hulme and
Dessai, 2008) and socio-economic scenarios (Hughes et al.,
2009).
- USA:
Nationally NOAA has a prototype Climate Services
Portal (http://www.climate.gov/)
offering observed climate data; the Nature Conservancy offers climate
information for the USA and world, available through a Climate Wizard (http://www.climatewizard.org/index.html);
the Climate Impacts Group (http://www.climatewizard.org/index.html)
is an example of a regional provider of climate information and
projections for the Pacific Northwest (all in English).
- Global: WorldClim (http://www.worldclim.org/)
is a set of global climate layers (grids) with spatial resolution
of
approximately 1 square kilometre for mapping, spatial modelling and use
in GIS
(Hijmans et al, 2005 )
The
following sub-sections describe a number of issues to consider in
identifying data, developing scenarios and presenting such information
for use in assessments, along with supporting literature offering
additional explanation and examples.
