South Korean economist Hoesung Lee is stepping down after nearly eight years at the helm and the UN body set up in 1988 could now elect its first female leader.
Two women are among four candidates for the post -- Brazil's Thelma Krug, an IPCC vice-chair and former researcher at her country's national space institute, and South Africa's Debra Roberts, a biogeographer specialising in urbanisation issues and currently co-chair of an IPCC working group investigating the effects of climate change on societies and ecosystems.
Paleoclimatologist Valerie Masson-Delmotte, who heads one of three IPCC working groups, said it was "important" to have female candidates on the slate -- unlike in 2015 when all six hopefuls were men.
"It's not because they are women but because they are people of high scientific prowess who understand well the contrasting political and social stakes in the world's different countries," she told AFP, adding all four hopefuls had the vision to spearhead renewal at a time of "many challenges".
Almost one in three contributors to the IPCC are women.
The two other candidates standing to head the body are Belgian Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, a climatologist who previously ran for the post in 2015 and Briton Jim Skea, a professor of renewable energy at Imperial College in London.
Skea is also co-chair of an IPCC working group looking at how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Whoever lands the top job will lead and oversee hundreds of experts through to the end of a crucial decade, considered to be the last for humanity to act to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to preindustrial levels.
- Shock reports -
Masson-Delmotte stressed the importance of the role of chair in the functioning of the institution which encompasses 195 countries.
"They oversee the plenary meetings where all the decisions are taken. They also play a supervisory role in drawing up summary reports" while acting as an interface with the diplomatic world.
The organisation's mission statement is to prepare reports on "the state of scientific, technical and socio-economic knowledge on climate change, its impacts and future risks, and options for reducing the rate at which climate change is taking place".
The IPCC in 2007 received the Nobel peace prize accolade jointly with former US vice-president Al Gore.
Every five to seven years it publishes a group of peer reviewed reports which synthesise the latest climate change science.
The most recent synthesis report was published last March, and showed in no uncertain terms that previous synthesis reports had somewhat underestimated the effects of global warming.
Those authoritative reports become central to global climate negotiations, telling world leaders at COP international summits how much human activities have warmed the Earth, and how to mitigate global warming.
COP28 will be held from November 30 to December 12 in Dubai.
Lee, an economist specialising in energy issues, succeeded India's Rajendra Pachauri, who resigned in February 2015 amid accusations of sexual harassment by a colleague in India and who died in 2020.
The Nairobi meeting will be the IPCC's 59th plenary assembly which will also see the election of 34 members to the body's bureau.
Police remove Greta Thunberg from protest hours after fine
Malmo, Sweden (AFP) July 24, 2023 -
Swedish police removed climate campaigner Greta Thunberg from a protest on Monday, an AFP photographer reported, hours after a court fined her for disobeying law enforcement at a rally last month.
The 20-year-old activist, who has become a key face of the movement to fight climate change, had earlier in the day appeared in court, accused of disrupting traffic and refusing to leave a June protest in port city Malmo.
"It's correct that I was at that place on that day, and it's correct that I received an order that I didn't listen to, but I want to deny the crime," Thunberg told the court when asked about the charge against her.
Thunberg said she had acted out of necessity, citing the urgency created by the "climate crisis".
The rally, organised by environmental activist group Reclaim the Future, tried to block the entrance and exit to the Malmo harbour to protest against the use of fossil fuels.
"According to me we are in an emergency, and then due to that my action was legitimate," she told reporters after the trial.
- Not backing down -
After a short trial, the court found her guilty and issued a fine of 1,500 kronor ($144) plus an additional 1,000 kronor to the Swedish fund for victims of crime.
The crime she was convicted of can carry a maximum sentence of six months in prison, but usually these types of charges result in fines.
Asked if she would exercise more caution in the future following her fine, Thunberg said they were "definitely not going to back down".
"We know that we cannot save the world by playing by the rules because the laws have to be changed," the activist said.
"It is absurd that the ones acting in line with the science, the ones blocking the fossil fuel industry are the ones having to pay the price for it," she added.
Hours later, Thunberg joined a protest similar to the one in June that resulted in her being fined.
Sitting on the road leading to the Malmo port, she put out a sign reading "I block tanker trucks".
- Same crime -
After about an hour, Thunberg and five others were forcibly removed by police, an AFP photographer at the port reported.
"Six people have been removed from the scene," police said in a statement, adding they would be reported for "Disobeying police orders", the same crime Thunberg had just been fined over.
Thunberg shot to global fame after starting her "School Strike for the Climate" in front of Sweden's parliament in Stockholm at the age of 15.
She and a small band of youths founded the Fridays for Future movement, which quickly became a global phenomenon.
In addition to her climate strikes, the young activist regularly lambasts governments and politicians for not properly addressing climate issues.
Reclaim the Future insists that despite the legal pressures, it remains unbowed in its determination to stand up to the fossil fuels industry.
"If the court chooses to see our action as a crime it may do so, but we know we have the right to live and the fossil fuels industry stands in the way of that," group spokeswoman Irma Kjellstrom told AFP.
Six people present at the June protest have or will face charges at the court in Malmo.
"We young people are not going to wait but will do what we can to stop this industry which is burning our lives," she said, explaining the group's plans for continuing civil disobedience.
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