The Core Conclusions and Interpretation of Working Group II Contribution to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Abstract

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released the Working Group II contribution to the Fifth Assessment Report (WGII AR5) IPCC Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability in March 2014. This paper introduces and interprets this report, making well organization of the main conclusions, analyzing the new enlightenment to China's response to climate change. WGII AR5 focuses on the assessment and management of climate change risks. According to the latest scientific literature and evidences, this report elaborates climate change's broader impacts on water resource, food production, and other natural and human social systems since 2007 IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (AR4). Via the assessment of different areas, regions, and key risks in the future, the report indicates the risk level of climate change faced with the globe under different temperature rise; aiming at risk management, the report emphasizes the significance of promoting and establishing the sustainable development society with recovery capacity through adaptation and mitigation of climate change. As an important scientific basis for international community to recognize and cope with climate change, the publication of IPCC AR5 one after another will have a significant influence on Durban Platform negotiations on post-2020 international climate regime which have been in a difficult stage, and the 2014 United Nations climate change summit [IPCC. 2014. Climate Change 2014: Impact Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press].