Cover pages

T he Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was set up jointly by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme to provide an authoritative international statement of scientific understanding of climate change. The IPCC's periodic assessments of the causes, impacts and possible response strategies to climate change are the most comprehensive and up-to-date reports available on the subject, and form the standard reference for all concerned with climate change in academia, government and industry worldwide. This Synthesis Report is the fourth element of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report " Climate Change 2007 ". Through three working groups, many hundreds of international experts assess climate change in this Report. The three working group contributions are available from Cambridge University Press: Climate Change 2007 – Synthesis Report is based on the assessment carried out by the three Working Groups of the IPCC. It provides an integrated view of climate change and addresses the following topics: • Observed changes in climate and their effects • Causes of change • Climate change and its impacts in the near and long term under different scenarios • Adaptation and mitigation options and responses, and the interrelationship with sustainable development, at global and regional levels • The long-term perspective: scientific and socioeconomic aspects relevant to adaptation and mitigation, consistent with the objectives and provisions of the Convention, and in the context of sustainable development • Robust findings, key uncertainties