The IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report: what’s in it for South Asia?

This report, compiled by a wide range of experts from the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) and the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), explores the impacts of climate change in more depth. The report looks at how, globally, sea levels have risen faster than at any time during the previous two millennia and how the effects are felt in South Asia. At the same time as sea levels are rising, most Asian deltas are sinking as a result of groundwater extraction, floodplain engineering and trapping of sediments by dams.

The report distils the richest material on climate impacts and trends in South Asia, and South Asian experiences in adaptation and mitigation, from the thousands of pages of the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report and complemented with similar, peer reviewed case studies from the sub-region. The expert research team has worked under the guidance of IPCC Coordinating Lead Authors and Reviewers to ensure fidelity to the original Fifth Assessment material. This guide aims to make the IPCC’s important material more accessible and usable to South Asian audiences. It responds to wide demand for region-specific information.