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319

fossil fuels were adding to global

warming. It was not until the 1970s,

however, that governments began

to act upon this knowledge. Around

this time, the general public had

begun to be made aware of the

reality of climate change due to

news articles and broadcasts that

shared the bleak outlooks of climate

scientists with the wider world.

International efforts to halt or

delay climate change began with

the first United Nations conference

on the environment, which was

held in Stockholm, Sweden, in

1972. The conference paid little
      attention to the issue of climate
      change compared to other
      environmental issues—such as
      pollution and renewable energy—
      but did create the United Nations
      Environment Programme (UNEP),
      an agency to oversee environmental
      policies and programs such as

ecosystem management, natural

disaster relief, and antipollution

activities. UNEP later became

responsible for coordinating UN

efforts against climate change.

In 1987, UN members also

agreed to the Montreal Protocol,

pledging to protect Earth’s ozone

layer by ending the use of ozone-

depleting substances. Although

it was not specifically designed

to combat climate change, the

agreement, which was ratified by

all UN member states, did reduce

greenhouse gas emissions.

Creation of the IPCC

In 1988, the Intergovernmental

Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

was established in Geneva,

Switzerland, by two United Nations

organizations: UNEP, and the

World Meteorological Organization

(WMO). Swedish meteorologist

Bert Bolin—who served on the

Advisory Group on Greenhouse

Gases that the IPCC supplanted—

was the panel’s first chairman.

The IPCC was created to serve

as a globally coordinated response

to climate change linked to human

activity. It issues reports based on

scientific research in support of

the main international treaty on

climate change: the UN Framework

Convention on Climate Change

(UNFCCC), which was signed at

the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro,

Brazil, in 1992. The IPCC’s work

also involves issuing the Summary

for Policymakers (SPM), which

provides summaries of climate ❯❯

See also: Global warming 202–203 ■ Deforestation 254–259 ■ Man and the Biosphere Programme 310–311

■ Sustainable Biosphere Initiative 322–323 ■ The economic impact of climate change 324–325

ENVIRONMENTALISM AND CONSERVATION

An Inconvenient Truth, a 2006

documentary on climate change

by former US Vice President Al Gore,

aimed to educate the public on the

causes and effects of climate change.

... human beings are now

carrying out a large-scale

geophysical experiment of a

kind that could not have

happened in the past...

Roger Revelle and

Hans Suess

US_316-321_Halting_Climate_Change.indd 319 17/12/2018 14:34