20 years of the IPCC in Geneva: Moritz Leuenberger will meet Ban Ki-moon and Rajendra K. Pachauri
Bern, 27.08.2008 - Federal Councillor Moritz Leuenberger will participate at the ceremony to mark the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on 31 August in Geneva. Mr Leuenberger will meet Mr Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary General, and Mr Rajendra K. Pachauri, Chairman of the IPCC. The IPCC was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for its efforts to combat climate change. Moritz Leuenberger, Ban Ki-moon and Rajendra K. Pachauri will hold a joint press conference after the official ceremony.
The IPCC is the world's leading scientific and technical body for the assessment of evaluating climate change. It was created in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in order to provide decision makers and the general public with a clear and balanced view of the state of understanding of climate change.
The IPCC's work played a considerable role in alerting both the public and world leaders to the scientific realities of climate change. As with previous work on the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC held in Bali (Indonesia) in December 2007 relied heavily on the conclusions of the IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report (AR4). In December 2007 the IPCC was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize together with former US Vice President Al Gore.
Switzerland's contribution
Switzerland provides financial and scientific support to the work of the IPCC whose secretariat is located in Geneva, at the headquarters of the World Meteorological Organisation. Over 50 top level Swiss scientists contribute to the IPCC reports as authors or experts. The universities of Bern, Zurich, Geneva and Basel, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, The Davos Observatory, Geneva City Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, the Swiss Tropical Institute Basel, Agroscope, Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) and MétéoSuisse all collaborate with the IPCC.
Mr Moritz Leuenberger will participate at the official ceremony to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the IPCC to be held in the Bâtiment des Forces Motrices (BFM), a 19th century hydro-power station in Geneva, on Sunday 31 August 2008. After his opening speech before the opening of the Plenary Meeting, Moritz Leuenberger, Ban Ki-moon and Rajendra K. Pachauri will hold a joint press conference at the BFM (accreditation obligatory - please see informations below).
Address for enquiries
André Simonazzi, DETEC spokesperson, 031 322 55 41
José Romero, head of section, Swiss IPCC contact, FOEN, 031 079 251 90 69
Elisabeth Maret, information, FOEN, 031 323 28 69
Documents
Links
Publisher
Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications
https://www.uvek.admin.ch/uvek/en/home.html
