The Tribune

Bahamian climate scientist Dr Adelle Thomas was elected to serve on the Bureau of the Intergovernmental Panel on Panel Change (IPCC) at its 59th session in Nairobi, Kenya on July 28.

Dr Thomas, a senior fellow at the Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Research Centre at the University of The Bahamas and a senior scientist at Climate Analytics, was elected as a Vice-Chair of the IPCC Working Group two (WGII) after defeating the Mexican Candidate 72 to 69 votes for the last of four seats allotted to the American Region on the Bureau. The working group assesses the impacts of climate change, from a world-wide to a regional view.

Dr Thomas has more than 16 years of experience in research and policy development on climate change adaptation and loss and damage in the developing world context, with a particular focus on Small Island Developing States (SIDS). She has extensive experience in communicating and developing policy-relevant science, including in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and in national and sub-national policy processes. Dr Thomas has previously served as a member of the UNFCCC Technology Executive Committee and currently serves as a member of the Technical Expert Group on Comprehensive Risk Management for the Warsaw International Mechanism Executive Committee (WIM ExCom). Dr Thomas has an array of experience with the IPCC having served as a Lead Author on many IPCC documents including the Special Report on 1.5°C.

As vice-chair, her priorities will be among other things to ensure that high scientific standards of IPCC assessments are maintained and supporting increased representation and engagement of authors from developing countries.