IPCC Special Report on Oceans and Cryosphere releasing today: What to expect from UN's latest climate change assessment

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC) is an analysis of sound research over recent years about the Earth's diverse water cycle and it's many dependants. It will be the first report that discusses the effects of climate change on oceans and parts of the Earth frozen in ice, collectively known as the cryosphere.

The IPCC is a United Nations body that comprises the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). It reviews the science related to climate change and its impacts on the future to help policymakers and world leaders prepare to act on climate change and its spinoff effects.

Representational image.

The three-year-long survey summarized in the report looks at the adverse impacts of climate change on the oceans, coastal regions, polar ice caps, and mountain ecosystems as well as the impacts on human communities. Possible solutions for the mitigation and adaptation to climate-related change has also been suggested by the report's authors. The report was the work of 104 scientists from 36 countries world over, who have referred to more than 7,000 scientific publications to compile their findings. The IPCC doesn't conduct research of its own.

The Oceans and Cryosphere report addresses these ecosystems in five different chapters, as follows:

• High mountain areas
• Polar regions
• Rising sea levels and their impacts on islands and coasts
• Changing ocean and marine ecosystems and their effects on the communities that depend on them
• Managing the risks of extreme climate changes

The SROCC was approved by the UN's 195-nation climate science body on Tuesday, after a night-long standoff with Saudi Arabia, who opposed the Summary for Policy Makers. Their point of contention was the aggressive push needed to slash carbon emissions caused by burning fossil fuels.

The report comes on the heels of the recent climate action surge after the Global Climate Strike on 20 September, the United Nations Youth Climate Summit and the United Nations Climate Action Summit. The UN Climate Summits were called for by the UN chief Antonio Guterres to force the world leaders to increase their efforts to ensure that they stay under the 2 degree Celsius mark set by the Paris Agreement in 2015.

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