DRR and CC Understanding Threat and Vulnerability Building Adaptive Capacity

Introduction
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was created by the World Meteorological
Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), in 1988. This group
issued a first assessment report in 1990, which reflected the views of 400 scientists. The report stated
that global warming was real and urged that something be done about it.
The Panel’s findings prompted governments to create the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC). And in 1992, the Convention was ready for signature at the United Nations
Conference on Environment and Development –known as the «Earth Summit,» in Rio de Janeiro. Five
years later, in December of 1997, the Kyoto Protocol to the UNFCCC was adopted by consensus at the
third session of the Conference of the Parties (COP3). The Protocol, which contains legally binding
emissions targets, is a direct response to the Convention‟s ultimate goal of preventing «dangerous
anthropogenic [man-made] interference with the climate system».