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IPCC AT THE SCIENCE- POLICY INTERFACEDR MANNAVA V.K. SIVAKUMAR, ACTING SECRETARY, INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE (IPCC)Science plays an important role in environmental policies and can assist in the development of appropriate management decisions that can help limit the impacts of human activities on the environment. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the leading international body for the assessment of climate change, established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988 to provide the world w ith a clear scientific view on the current state of knowledge in climate change and its potential environmental and socio-economic impacts. Governments participate in the review process and the plenary Sessions, where main decisions about the IPCC work programme are taken and reports are accepted, adopted, and approved. The IPCC seeks to provide statements to decision-makers that are up to date, authoritative and comprehensive, based on rigorous analyses. By endorsing the IPCC reports, governments acknowledge the authority of their scientific content. The intention is to provide neutral, policy-relevant information that is never policy-prescriptive.According to IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report (AR5), in recent decades, changes in climate have caused impacts on natural and human systems on all continents and across the oceans. In many regions, changing precipitation or melting snow and ice are altering hydrological systems, affecting water resources in terms of quantity and quality. Glaciers continue to shrink almost worldwide due to climate change, affecting runoff and water resources downstream. Many terrestrial, freshwater, and marine species have shifted their geographic ranges, seasonal activities, migration patterns, abundances, and species interactions in response to ongoing climate change.All aspects of food security are potentially affected by climate change, including food access, utilization, and price stability. Risks to food security are generally greater in low-latitude areas. Several periods of rapid food and cereal price increases following climate extremes in key producing regions indicate a sensitivity of current markets to climate extremes among other factors. People who are socially, economically, culturally, politically, institutionally, or otherwise marginalized are especially vulnerable to climate change and also to some adaptation and mitigation responses. Impacts from recent climate-related extremes, such as heat waves, droughts, floods, cyclones, and wildfires, reveal significant vulnerability and exposure of some ecosystems and many human systems to current climate variability. Impacts of such climate-related extremes include alteration of ecosystems, disruption of food production and water Main: Climate change can cause livelihood disruption in the most vulnerable areasAbove: Dr Mannava V.K. SivakumarPhoto Credit: UN Photo-Tobin Jones