The framework meeting of the Special Report on Climate Change and Oceans and the Cryosphere of the IPCC – the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – will be held from December 6 to 9 in Monaco.

The important meeting will bring together some 100 experts from 40 countries and HSH Prince Albert and Lei Hoesung, President of the IPCC, will deliver keynote addresses at the opening ceremony. A plenary session, open to the media and observers, will be held from 9 am to 10 am.

“Monaco has long supported research as an important axis of its policy … We have carried out an important work of conviction in favour of the establishment of a report by the IPCC on the oceans and the cryosphere,” said Prince Albert on World Oceans Day in June 2016.

“Oceans cover 70 percent of the Earth’s surface and play a key role in climate regulation. They provide food and livelihoods to millions of people. This very relevant policy report will improve our understanding of the Oceans and the Cryosphere, especially regarding sea-level rise,” said Lee Hoesung. The drafting of this report is expected to be completed in 2019.

The report, a Monegasque initiative for which Prince Albert, His Government and the Prince Albert II Foundation have been working since January 2015, is a long-awaited step towards taking the oceans into account in the face of climate change.

Cryosphere (from the Greek kryos meaning cold and ice) is a term collectively denoting those portions of the earth’s surface where water is present in the solid state. It includes pack ice, frozen lakes and rivers, snow covered areas, glaciers and frozen necks.

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