cc: Mike Hulme date: Mon, 24 May 2004 12:07:57 +0100 from: Nick Brooks subject: Re: UK climate stabilisation research: agenda-setting exercise to: Brian O NEILL Dear Brian Thank you for getting back to me. Although we are seeking input in time for a draft report to DEFRA in early June, the final report will not be submitted until the end of June, and if you can get us some comments before then it might be possible to fold them in. Certainly we hope that this study will provide the basis for further development of a research programme, and any comments can certainly inform this process, whenever they reach us. So if you would like to comment, we will certainly be very happy to receive your input, even if we are not sure precisely where in the process these comments will be fed in. I will leave it up to you, and have attached the relevant material - you can always have a quick skim through it and then decide whether you would like to comment on all or part (or none!) of it. And yes, this is the study that Jean was talking about at the recent IPCC meeting. All the best Nick -- Dr Nick Brooks Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research School of Environmental Sciences University of East Anglia Norwich NR4 7TJ Tel: +44 1603 593904 Fax: +44 1603 593901 Email: nick.brooks@uea.ac.uk http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/~e118/welcome.htm (personal site) http://www.tyndall.ac.uk (Tyndall Centre site) http://www.uea.ac.uk/sahara (Saharan Studies Programme) -- On 22/5/04 6:12 pm, "Brian O NEILL" wrote: Dear Nick, I apologize for responding so late, unfortunately your email caught me at a particularly bad time and I am just now catching up with the last few weeks of correspondence. The Tyndall Scoping Study sounds quite interesting, and at the IPCC meeting on Article 2 that I just attended, I believe I heard Jean Palutikoff present an outline of it. It sounds like the timeline for the input you are seeking will not match my schedule. I am not back in the office until June 2, and even at that time would be hard pressed to set aside time to give some careful thought to the project outlines. If you are still seeking comments later in June or in July, please let me know and I would be happy to participate. Sincerely, Brian At 05:29 PM 5/10/2004, you wrote: Dear Brian We are contacting you, at the suggestion of Steve Schneider, to request some (small) input to a scoping study funded by the UK Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and coordinated by the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. The aim of the study is to set the agenda for UK government-supported research into stabilisation of atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations "at a level that will prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system", as stipulated in Article 2 of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The purpose of this email is to ask if you would be prepared to read and comment on a proposal for a programme of research consisting of ten 2-page project outlines and a few pages of explanatory text describing the research context. The projects described in the 2-page proposals could constitute a single, integrated research programme, or could be funded separately as "stand-alone" undertakings. They have been designed to be flexible in this respect as the aim of the scoping study is to generate agenda-setting research ideas for which funding will need to be sought. While the Tyndall Centre has coordinated this study, in collaboration with DEFRA, the Hadley Centre and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, the aim is to set the agenda for stabilisation research in the UK at large (and beyond), rather than develop a programme of research for any of the individual centres involved in the scoping study. The 2-page project proposals cover topics such as climate forecasting, abrupt climate change, technological pathways, economic modelling, impacts and damges, and adaptation. They have been designed to address the gaps in our knowledge that must by filled if we are to develop meaningful strategies to address climate change. The proposals have been approved by DEFRA, so we are not looking to radically alter their nature. Rather, we are seeking to solicit input from you as to: 1) how these projects might be elaborated (e.g. are there any specific avenues of enquiry that you feel would be particularly fruitful) 2) how they might be implemented (e.g. which institutions have the appropriate expertise, how might the projects be structured, which methodologies might be exploited etc) 3) how the proposed work might build on and/or interact with other international initiatives that you are aware of or involved in More general comments are of course welcome. If you are prepared to participate in this exercise we will send you an electronic version of the scoping study output, including the 2-page outlines, on or soon after 15 May. We would want a fairly quick response - by 25 May - if possible. We appreciate that you are likely to have many other commitments, and that this is a short-notice request. However, we feel that this is an important exercise, addressing an issue of major importance, and we would very much appreciate your input. We would be very grateful if you would let us know by 10 May at the latest whether or not you are able and willing to participate in this exercise. Yours sincerely Nick Brooks and Mike Hulme Attachment Converted: "c:\eudora\attach\stabilisation.pdf"