IPCC Technical paper on Climate Change and Water

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Technical Paper on Climate Change and Water is the sixth paper in the IPCC Technical Paper series and was produced in response to a proposal by the Secretariat of the World Climate Programme – Water (WCP-Water) and the International Steering Committee of the Dialogue on Water and Climate at the 19th Plenary Session of the IPCC which took place in Geneva in April 2002. Such a document was to be based primarily on the findings of the Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC, but also earlier IPCC publications. The Panel also decided that water should be treated as cross cutting theme in the Fourth Assessment Report. The Technical Paper addresses the issue of freshwater. Climate, freshwater, biophysical and socio-economic systems are interconnected in complex ways. Hence, a change in any one of these can induce a change in any other. Freshwater-related issues are critical in determining key regional and sectoral vulnerabilities. Therefore, the relationship between climate change and freshwater resources is of primary concern to human society and also has implications for all living species.