NRI researcher John Morton has been selected for a key role in the next report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), due to appear in 2014. Together with Dr Purnamita Dasgupta of the Delhi-based Institute of Economic Growth, John will serve as Co-ordinating Lead Author for the chapter on Rural Areas in the second volume, to be entitled 'Climate Change 2013: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability'.
Professor Morton and Dr Dasgupta will lead a team of six Lead Authors from around the world, who will review and assess the relevant literature including consideration of probable climate change impacts on migration, housing, livelihoods and infrastructure, and how rural people across the world can adapt. Professor Morton, who worked as a Lead Author on the previous Fourth Assessment Report, said "I am excited to have the chance of working once more for the IPCC, and to contribute with international colleagues to an important new chapter. We are asked to make a comprehensive, objective, open and transparent assessment of current research — not to make policy recommendations, but to inform policy debates on climate change.