Climate Change
and water
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Climate Change and wateriPCC technical Paper Vi
Observational records and climate projections provide abundant evidence that freshwater resources
are vulnerable and have the potential to be strongly impacted by climate change, with wide-ranging
consequences for human societies and ecosystems.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Technical Paper Climate Change and Water draws
together and evaluates the information in IPCC Assessment and Special Reports concerning the impacts of
climate change on hydrological processes and regimes, and on freshwater resources – their availability, quality,
use and management. It takes into account current and projected regional key vulnerabilities, prospects for
adaptation, and the relationships between climate change mitigation and water. Its objectives are:
• To improve understanding of the links between both natural and anthropogenically induced climate change,
its impacts, and adaptation and mitigation response options, on the one hand, and water-related issues, on
the other;
• To communicate this improved understanding to policymakers and stakeholders.
Text in the Technical Paper carefully follows the text of the underlying IPCC Reports, especially the Fourth
Assessment. It reflects the balance and objectivity of those Reports and, where the text differs, this is with the
purpose of supporting and/or explaining further the conclusions of those Reports. Every substantive paragraph
is sourced back to an IPCC Report.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was set up jointly by the World Meteorological
Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme to provide an authoritative international assessment
of scientific information on climate change. Climate Change and Water is one of six Technical Papers prepared
by the IPCC to date. It was prepared in response to a request from the World Climate Programme – Water and
the International Steering Committee of the D