The IPCC Predicament: Politics Confronts Science of Climate Change
If you are looking for a good synthesis of the IPCC appraisal of recent climate science findings, don’t expect to see it on the upcoming Summary for Policy Makers. You’ll be disappointed. It will likely be just a watered down political piece, rather than a set of substantive scientific recommendations to policy makers. For substance and scientific soundness wait to read the Technical Summary or prepare to face the one thousand and so pages of the full report instead.
At least this is what some IPCC members are saying after the 33rd Plenary Session held in Abu Dhabi last month. Plenary discussions were too slow. Procedures are becoming too bureaucratized, especially under the new rules. They were created as a response