International Scientific Conference: Our Common future Under Climate Change

he International Scientific Conference “Our Common Future under Climate Change” will take place at UNESCO (Paris) in July 2015.

This four-day conference will be the largest forum for the scientific community to come together ahead of the 21st UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP21), which will be hosted by France in December 2015 (“Paris Climat 2015”). Building on the results of IPCC 5th Assessment Report (AR5), the Conference will address key issues concerning climate change in the broader context of global change. It will offer an opportunity to discuss solutions for both mitigation and adaptation issues. The Conference will also welcome Side Events organized by different stakeholders.

The conference is organized under the umbrella of ICSU, Future Earth, UNESCO and major French research institutions, with the support of the French Government.

The Conference has four overarching objectives:1 - Provide state-of-the-art scientific knowledge on climate change, one year after the release of IPCC AR5: physical basis of climate change, impacts, adaptation and vulnerability, mitigation, storylines and scenarios. Special emphasis will be placed on explaining, translating and disseminating the key results of IPCC AR5 and major developments thereafter. This Conference offers the opportunity to progress in our understanding of the multiple interactions between climate change, the geosphere, the biosphere and human societies, at a range of spatial and temporal scales. Special attention will be given to trans-disciplinary research and to emerging concepts.3 - Assess the potential for evidence-based solutions to climate change challenges. Scientific evidence will be assessed to explore a large array of potential technological, social and institutional solutions to some of the challenges created by climate change. Potential solutions will be discussed in connection with the broader challenges of sustainable development, environmental conservation, equity, and cultural diversity.2 - Explore a wide range of pathways combining climate change mitigation and adaptation, and sustainable development. Building on forecasts, storylines and scenarios, the Conference will discuss uncertainties; identify areas of consensus, and map controversies while taking stock of the multiple connections to development and environmental challenges within a large diversity of local, national and regional contexts.4 - Contribute to a science-society dialogue. En route to COP21, the Conference will offer all interested parties (negotiators, policy-makers, businesses, NGOs, public at large) an up-to-date panorama of the insights that science can provide on climate change and how to tackle it. With the post-2015 agenda in sight, the Conference also offers a venue for scientists, policy-makers, businesses and NGOs to debate the research agenda for the coming years (both via the conference itself and side events organized by stakeholders).