The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on 9th August 2021 announced the climate change assessment report six (AR6) by the Working Group 1 ahead of the 26th Conference of Parties.
Dr. Nana Ama Browne Klutse, the only Ghanaian lead author, in the Working Group 1 (WG1) contributed to the Africa section on the ATLAS chapter and other chapters relevant for Africa.
She also served as the only African on the Task Group Data (TG-Data) team.
The Working Group 1 (WG1) report, titled ‘AR6 Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis’ reaffirmed the nexus between human activities and climate change.
Each chapter was led by a team of lead authors and coordinating lead authors who are world-renowned climate scientists representing a diverse spectrum of viewpoints, expertise, gender, and geographic representation. Also, these authors represent academia, research institutions, industry, government, and non-governmental organizations.
Dr. Klutse who doubles as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana’s physics department in an exclusive interview with Citi News said just “like COVID-19, climate change [too] is an emergency”.
“People are not seeing it as an emergency, so I am happy that the IPCC has been bold enough to now say that human beings are the cause of these changes. If we are the cause, then we have to get the time to make serious decisions to cut the use of fossil fuel”.
She called on government to develop policies such as a state transport system for workers to reduce carbon emissions from vehicles.
“If we have a regular schedule for state transportation, then personally I will not drive. I will rather join the bus and stop next to my office and use the same system to my home. It is effective in Europe and in other countries, why can’t we practice a system where we can reduce the cars on our roads?” she quizzed.
Below is her academic profile
Dr. Nana Ama Browne Klutse is a senior lecturer at the Department of Physics, University of Ghana. She is also a Lead Author in Working Group 1 of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Sixth Assessment Report.
She is an AIMS-Canada Researcher in Climate Change Science with AIMS Rwanda/Ghana embarking on a project focused on understanding the climate dynamics of Africa, climate observations and projections for climate services.
She holds a PhD in Climatology from the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Her research generally focuses on climate modelling and impacts. She was a Senior Research Scientist at the Ghana Space Science and Technology Institute of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission. She was the Manager of the Remote Sensing and Climate Center at the Institute.
She has worked on both national and international projects and consultancies including the climate and health project in Ghana and the ongoing global CORDEX experiment. She has co-authored a good number of journal article publications and academic books to her credit.
Being a lecturer, she teaches courses such as general physics, cloud physics, atmospheric physics, climate dynamics of Africa, regional climate modelling. She supervises students’ research in Ghana and abroad at Masters and PhD levels. She also serves as an external examiner for universities in Ghana.
She dedicates her life for community services, mentors young men and women for education pursuits, self-confidence and self-motivation. She also trains professionals in etiquette and assertiveness.
As part of her service to give back to society, she is a motivation speaker and articulates effectively on all platforms. At her leisure time, she spends time with children with learning disabilities.
Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
The IPCC was established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and endorsed by UN assembly.
The role of the IPCC is to comprehensively and objectively assess the scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant to understanding climate change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation.
Every 5 to 7 years, IPCC releases an assessment report written by hundreds of scientists in a very collaborative and collegial way. This report constitutes the current state of knowledge on climate change and informs international policy and negotiations on climate-related issues.
The IPCC comprises four working groups;
Working Group I: Physical Science Basis
The IPCC Working Group I (WGI) aims at assessing the physical scientific basis of the climate system and climate change.
Working Group II: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
This group assesses the vulnerability of socio-economic and natural systems to climate change, negative and positive consequences of climate change and options for adapting to it.
Working Group III: Mitigation of Climate Change
This focuses on climate change mitigation, assessing methods for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
The Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (TFI)
The TFI develops and refines an internationally agreed methodology and software for the calculation and reporting of national GHG emissions and removals and encourages the use of this methodology by countries participating in the IPCC and by signatories of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).