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ENB:12:11 [Next] . [Previous] . [Contents]

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE

Increasing scientific evidence about the possibility of global climate change in the 1980s led to a growing awareness that human activities have been contributing to substantial increases in the atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases. Concerned that anthropogenic increases of emissions enhance the natural greenhouse effect and would result on average in an additional warming of the Earth's surface, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) responded by establishing the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 1988. The Panel focused on: assessing scientific information related to the various aspects of climate change; evaluating the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of climate change; and formulating response strategies for the management of climate change. In 1990, the Second World Climate Conference and the adoption of the first IPCC assessment focused further attention on climate change.