23 September 2014: An event titled ‘Climate Science: Key to Resilience,’ organized by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), focused on the role climate science plays in understanding current environmental changes.

The event addressed how climate science can inform actions that can give new momentum to climate action, providing an interactive discussion of the science-policy interface and emphasizing the need for urgent decisions based on scientific findings.

Opening the session, Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, President of Mongolia, stressed that climate science is critical to the future of the planet, and the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Summit is “an opportunity we cannot miss.”

Participants discussed key findings of climate science relevant to policy, and ways to use knowledge and information more effectively in order to educate and empower people for action. Participants highlighted access to sound science, information and climate services as crucial to long-term effective climate action, which requires investment in enhancing knowledge and reducing uncertainty through stronger science with tighter links with policy.

Julia Marton-Lefèvre, Director General of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), emphasized the need for science to demonstrate that “it is good for nature and for the people who depend on it.”

The event took place on 23 September 2014, in New York, US. [UNESCO Press Release] [Climate Summit 2014 Media Advisory] [UNITAR Press Release] [IISD RS Coverage of the UN Climate Summit]