Last week in Nairobi, Kenya, government representatives and scientists came together to elect the new bureau that will guide the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) seventh assessment report cycle.

This upcoming cycle will be incredibly important to the work under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, as it will span and inform the second Global Stocktake, the submissions of 2035 climate targets and will be the last to conclude in the ‘critical decade for climate action’.

“Least developed countries still struggle for scientific representation in the IPCC reports as climate science is still an emerging field in many of our countries, with incomplete data records, and limited capacity in scientific institutions. It is therefore all the more important that our scientists have seats at the table when it comes to compiling these reports” commented Madeleine Diouf Sarr, Chair of the Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group.

“The best available climate science is absolutely vital to informing the international climate negotiations. I would like to extend my warmest congratulations to the scientists who have been elected from our countries and I look forward to working with them.”

The scientists and their positions are:

IPCC Vice-Chair

Ladislaus Chang’a (United Republic of Tanzania)

Working Group I Vice-Chairs  

Aida Diongue (Senegal) 

Maheswar Rupakheti (Nepal) 

Working Group II Vice-Chairs  

Fatima Denton (Gambia) 

Members of the Task Force Bureau

 Hamid Abaka Souleymane (Chad)


Photo by IISD/ENB