Speaking at the 12 th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change on Nov 16, 2006 , the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said that climate change is not just an environmental issue but an all-encompassing threat. Many plausible scenarios, based on rigorous scientific modeling, point towards serious impending threats to health with a far higher incidence of vector borne diseases and to the already precarious world's food supply, as rising temperatures and prolonged drought render fertile areas unfit. It could submerge under seas the very ground on which nearly half the world's population live from sea levels rising as a result of melting icecaps and glaciers. And it is also a threat to peace and security as changing patterns of rainfall can heighten competition for resources, setting in motion potentially destabilizing tensions and migrations, especially in fragile States or volatile regions.

Recently, a study by the former chief economist of the World Bank, Sir Nicholas Stern of the United Kingdom , called climate change “the greatest and widest-ranging market failure ever seen”. He warned that climate change could shrink the global economy by 20 per cent, and cause economic and social disruption at par with the two World Wars and the Great Depression.

There is much we can do in response by using fossil fuels more cleanly and efficiently and making renewable energy increasingly available at competitive prices. This would require enormous investments in research and development. Kofi Annan further said at the same event that the climate challenge offers real opportunities to advance development and place our societies on a more sustainable path. Low emissions need not mean low growth, or stifling a country's development aspirations. And knowing that a significant amount of warming has already taken place with visible changes in the climate, we must also begin to take measures to adapt to these changes so that the sufferings of the poor, most dependent on the climate's vagaries, could be minimized.

The IGWES aims at contributing to this great need for research to enhance the capacity of the human society across the world to deal with the consequences of the climate change and to reduce its effect through research in six thematic areas, v iz.,

 (1) Effect on biodiversity and wetlands of the entire Himalayas due to climate change

 (2) Effect on coastal zone and mangroves of South and South East Asia due to global warming

 (3) Biofuels as partial replacement for fossil fuels in South and South East Asia

 (4) Socio-economic aspects, including migration studies, of global warming in South and South East       Asia

 (5) Vulnerability of food crops in major food growing areas to increased pest, diseases and        nematodes

 (6) Climate change negotiations beyond the Kyoto Protocol - the imperatives of the Developing         Countries

Besides, these six broad areas of research, IGWES also intends to work on specific climate change issues that require urgent scientific and policy research and to explore the scientific, technical and socio-economic issues relevant to the understanding of human induced climate change, assess its potential impacts, propose mitigation and adaptation measures, and to develop strategies to implement these measures.

Training

Training is a core activity of Institute of Global warming and Ecological studies. We are in the process of organizing an international capacity building workshop, on behalf of International Tropical timber Organization (ITTO) for preparing Project Design Document, for carbon sequestration projects under make the Clean Development Mechanism in March 2007 in which participants from 10 countries of Asia and Pacific are expected to take part. Similar capacity building workshops are also under consideration for participants from Iraq and Afghanistan with international supports from a bilateral funding agency.

Teaching:

The Institute intends offering M Phil and Ph D programmes in Public Policy & Climate Change and Master programmes in Regulatory & Policy aspects of effect of changing climate