|
Several University of Victoria-based researchers woke up on the morning of Oct. 12 to find out they were co-winners of the most coveted award on the planet—a Nobel Prize.
As is now widely known, the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 is being shared by environmental activist and former US Vice President Al Gore and the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
The award cites the efforts of Gore and the IPCC “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.”
In announcing the prize, the Nobel Committee said they are highlighting the link they see between the risk of accelerating climate change and the risk of violent conflict and wars.
The IPCC was established by the United Nations Environmental Program and the World Meteorological Organization in 1988 to provide policymakers with neutral summaries of the latest information related to human-induced climate change.
There are currently three working groups within the IPCC, focusing on the science, impact and mitigation of climate change. The views of the working groups are presented as “assessment reports” which are produced every five years; 2007 is an assessment year.
Assessment reports are based on peer-reviewed scientific and technical literature and are written by teams of authors from all over the world who are recognized experts in their field. Hundreds are involved; none are paid for their time.
More than a dozen researchers associated with UVic were involved with the 2007 IPCC assessment as coordinating lead authors, lead authors or contributing authors.
“We congratulate everyone associated with UVic who contributed to the IPCC’s work,” says Vice-President Research Dr. Howard Brunt. “Through their research, the world has become more aware of the challenges ahead of us and how we can mitigate the impacts of global warming.”
The high number of IPCC contributors at UVic underscores the university’s growing reputation as an international leader in climate change research, notes Brunt.
“These strengths are enhanced by our close links with federal laboratories, especially the Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis (CCCma), the Institute of Ocean Sciences (IOS) and the Water and Climate Impacts Research Centre (W-CIRC), all of which are located on or near the UVic campus.”
The CCCma is an Environment Canada research centre, W-CIRC is a joint initiative of UVic and the National Water Research Institute of Environment Canada, and IOS is part of Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
At press time, The Ring was aware of the following IPCC contributors (listed by level of involvement) associated with UVic:
• Coordinating lead authors—Dr. Ken Denman, an adjunct professor in the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences (SEOS) and a research scientist with the CCCma and IOS; and Dr. Francis Zwiers, an adjunct professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, and a research scientist with the CCCma.
• Lead authors—Drs. Greg Flato and John Fyfe, both adjunct professors in SEOS and research scientists with the CCCma; Dr. Terry Prowse, professor and Chair in Climate Impacts on Water Resources in the Department of Geography and a research scientist with W-CIRC; Dr. Andrew Weaver, head of the climate modelling group in SEOS and the Canada Research Chair in Climate Modelling and Analysis.
• Contributing authors—Drs. Vivek Arora, Jim Christian and John Scinocca, adjunct professors in SEOS and research scientists with the CCCma; Drs. Adam Monahan and Mike Eby, a professor and research associate, respectively, in the climate modelling group in SEOS; Dr. Fred Wrona, a professor in the Department of Geography and a research scientist with W-CIRC; Dr. Cornelis “Case” van Kooten, a professor in the Department of Economics; and Terry Lee, a PhD student in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics.
|
