The Working Group II Fourth Assessment, as with all the IPCC reports, has been produced through an open and peer reviewed process. It builds upon past assessments and IPCC Special Reports, and incorporates the results of the past 5 years of climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability research.
This Assessment aims to describe current knowledge of climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. Specifically it addresses five questions:
What is the current knowledge about impacts of climate change which are observable now? (addressed in Section TS.2 of the Technical Summary)
What new scenarios and research methods have led to improvements in knowledge since the Third Assessment? (addressed in Section TS.3)
What is the current knowledge about future effects of climate change on different sectors and regions? (addressed in Section TS.4)
What is the current knowledge about adaptation, the interaction between adaptation and mitigation, key vulnerabilities, and the role of sustainable development in the context of climate change? (addressed in Section TS.5)
What gaps exist in current knowledge and how best can these be filled? (addressed in Section TS.6).

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By: Working Group II of the IPCC Fourth Assessment