Dr. Patrick Gonzalez, climate change scientist, forest ecologist, and Executive Director of the UC Berkeley Institute for Parks, People, and Biodiversity, participated in the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero Workshop Exploring Ideas Regarding the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Seventh Assessment Report, September 18-19, 2023, at the Royal Society, the UK academy of sciences. Scientists of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and users of climate change information from around the world discussed how the IPCC can more effectively provide science for action to halt climate change.
Patrick served as a lead author on the ecosystems chapter of the most recent IPCC climate change ssessment, published in 2022. The chapter assessed published scientific research, finding that human-caused climate change has caused two animal species extinctions, over 400 local disappearances (extirpations) of plant and animal species, a doubling of wildfire over natural levels in the western U.S., up to a doubling of tree death in areas of North America and Africa, loss of carbon from Amazon rainforests, shifted major vegetation types (biomes), and caused other impacts to ecological integrity. Replacing coal, oil, and gas with solar, wind, and other renewable energy, using public transit, biking, and walking, adopting a plant-rich, meat-free diet, and other sustainable actions by corporations, governments, and individuals would avoid the most drastic future risks.
IPCC is the panel of scientists that produces the authoritative assessments of climate change for scientists, policymakers, and other key users, for which IPCC was awarded a share of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.
Dr. Jim Skea, Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, speaks to the workshop at the Royal Society, London, UK, September 19, 2023. Photo by Patrick Gonzalez.