On the heels of the success of last year's '10 New Insights in Climate Science,' Future Earth once again invites expert input worldwide on which key findings should be included in this year's report via this survey before 8 May 2020

As a Strategic Partner of Future Earth, MRI encourages our mountain research community to contribute again to this report as we did in last year's report in which MRI contributed to the third chapter dedicated to climate change in mountains titled 'Climate change leaves no mountain summit behind.

The Future Earth survey for this year's report consists of two parts: 

1) What do you think are the 1-3 main new insights within your field of climate research? Which papers or reports (published since 1 July 2019) are these based on?'

Decisions on the final list of 10 Insights will be taken by the Editorial Board, which comprises experts selected by Future Earth, The Earth League, and WCRP, based on the following criteria:
- The topic should have high relevance for climate policy, negotiations, and the public's understanding of climate change
- There should be significant new findings on the topic since 1st July 2019 (older papers can be included as background)
- There is a sufficient scientific foundation for the new finding(s)

As political and public debates worldwide are currently clearly dominated by the coronavirus situation and related measures, this report aims to collate the latest scientific findings on the relation between the COVID-19 crisis and the issue of climate change, while at the same time highlighting other relevant insights that are crucial for decisionmakers concerned with the global response to climate change.

2) Could you consider supporting in the writing and review of selected Insights of the report, or suggest experts as authors/reviewers?

Future Earth invites a few co-authors for each insight, based on the topics that are chosen, and a couple of reviewers for each insight. The Editorial Board will select a list of authors and reviewers from the nominations based on merit and previous contributions to the '10 New Insights' reports. Reviewers can decide which and how many Insights to comment on. Writing begins in June and the review is planned to begin in September (subject to uncertainty due to the global situation). Future Earth will thank all reviewers by name in the report except those who wish to be anonymous. Authors will be listed as co-authors in the report citation.

For guidance, here are some key insights from last year’s report:

●      Existing and proposed energy infrastructure commits us to 850 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions if operated during its full life cycle, twice the budget available for stabilizing the climate at 1.5°C
●      Sea-level rise is accelerating
●      Changes to glaciers, snow, and ice in mountains influence water availability in the mountain catchments and the lowlands, possibly affecting billions of people
●      Anthropogenic forest fires driven by land-use alternation have been reducing major CO2 sinks
●      The duration of extreme weather events is anticipated to increase in a 2°C world
●      Terrestrial biodiversity is suffering from climate shifts, with 14% local species loss on average predicted already at 1–2°C warming – to more than one-third in a business-as-usual scenario
●      Increasing concentrations of CO2 will reduce the nutritional quality of most cereal crops, with hundreds of millions of people in South East Asian and sub-Saharan African countries worst affected
●      Climate change “hotspots” will push tens to hundreds of millions to migrate, mainly within borders by 2050
●      Success and failure of climate policies highlight the importance of addressing social issues
●      Historic evidence shows that 21–25% of a population needed to change their behaviour to enact significant system-level changes

Any questions or comments about this request or process may be addressed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Should any of our mountain research community members contribute to this survey, let us know! Send us a copy of your contribution This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. so we can follow up on and support your efforts to ensure mountain research stays at the forefront of climate change discussion and policy-making.
 
 

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