Japan Announces Bid to Host 2019 Meeting of U.N. Climate Panel

Bonn, Germany, Nov. 15 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Environment Minister Masaharu Nakagawa announced Wednesday the country's bid to host the 49th general session of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, slated for May 2019. The IPCC, established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization and the U.N. Environment Program, writes scientific reports on climate change. "Scientists are indispensable players for the Paris agreement (to tackle global warming), and the IPCC's activities have played a major role over many years," Nakagawa told a ministerial meeting of the 23rd session of the Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP23. He also said Japan will provide 5 million dollars to a fund of the World Bank group's Global Environment Facility designed to help developing countries take environmental measures. On the opening day of the two-day ministerial meeting, French President Emmanuel Macron said European countries would cover a shortfall in funding for the IPCC that may be caused by an envisaged U.S. exit from the Paris agreement announced by U.S. President Donald Trump in June. At the beginning of the meeting, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that "the catastrophic effects of climate change are upon us." "It is crucial for all countries to follow through on their Paris commitments," he added. END