International science-policy assessments convene scientists across the globe to inform climate and sustainable development policy. However, the largely voluntary nature of these efforts disadvantage researchers from lower-income countries or underresourced institutions. In this Nature Sustainability article, researchers including SEI US Centre Director Ed Carr stress the importance of providing greater institutional support to scientists who contribute to these global conversations.
International science-policy institutions such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) are science-policy organizations that synthesize scientific knowledge from global experts to inform policy. These organizations produce important evidence-based reports such as the IPBES Global Assessment Report and the IPCC Synthesis Report.
However, participation in these assessments are largely voluntary, meaning that contributing scientists are reliant on the permission of their employers and available funding to participate in these efforts. This results in a system that favors authors from high-income countries, sidelining lower-income regions and the invaluable perspectives of their researchers.
SEI US Centre Director Ed Carr, along with several other scientists with experience writing IPCC and IPBES reports, urge better support and incentives for researchers to contribute to global conversations on pressing societal issues, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution.
The authors suggest the following actions for supporting contributing scientists:
Other publication / The 2024 IPBES Transformative Change Assessment details the causes of biodiversity loss and offers principles for the needed transformations to reverse course.
Perspective / Three SEI researchers reflect on the IPCC AR6 Synthesis Report’s critical messages on adaptation, loss and damage.
Feature / Reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assess the scientific literature and set the climate policy agenda for governments.
