Asian Elephant Expert Raman Sukumar Now A Vice-Chair Of The IPCC

Relevance: GS3 - Environment; Prelims

(Source: Down to Earth, 08/08/2023)

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Why in the news?

• Recently, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) completed its elections in Nairobi, Kenya.
• The elections mark the end of the IPCC’s sixth assessment cycle and the beginning of the seventh assessment.
• Raman Sukumar, who is an Indian authority on the Asian elephant, has been elected a vice-chair of IPCC. He is elected as a member of the Working Group II Vice-Chairs.
• The IPCC also elected James Ferguson ‘Jim’ Skea of the United Kingdom as its new Chairman.

About Raman Sukumar

• Raman Sukumar is an Indian ecologist and is best known for his work on the behaviour of Asian elephants and how their presence has affected both human and natural environments.
• He works on climate change and tropical forest ecology and was born on April 3, 1955 in Madras.
• He joined the Project Elephant Steering Committee in 1993, offering technical expertise and advice to the Indian government.
• From 1997 to 2004, he led the Asian Elephant Specialist Group within the World Conservation Union.
• Awards:
  • Presidential Award of the Chicago Zoological Society in 1989,
  • Order of the Golden Ark in 1997,
  • Whitley Gold Award in 2003,
  • International Cosmos Prize in 2006.
• Notable Publications:
  • Elephant Days and Nights: Ten Years with the Indian Elephant (1994),
  • The Living Elephants: Evolutionary Ecology, Behavior and Conservation (2003) and
  • The Story of Asia’s Elephants (2011).

What is IPCC?

• The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a United Nations scientific government agency established at the request of member governments to provide the world with an impartial, scientific assessment of climate change and its political and economic implications on nations.
• The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) founded it in 1988, and the United Nations General Assembly later approved it.
• Membership: It has 195 Member countries.
• Headquarter: Geneva, Switzerland.

What are the IPCC working groups?

• Working Group I: looks at the physics of climate change;
• Working Group II: climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability;
• Working Group III: focuses on climate change mitigation;
• The three working groups release separate reports, which are then compiled into a synthesis report.

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FAQs

MCQ

Question: “Momentum for Change: Climate Neutral Now” is an initiative launched by (UPSC 2018)

(a) The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

(b) The UNEP Secretariat

(c) The UNFCCC Secretariat

(d) The World Meteorological Organisation