Contributions to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Related Activities
- Coordinating Lead Author, Emission Trends and Driver (Chapter 2), IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report (Mitigation), 2018- 2021.
- Coordinating Lead Author (CLA) of Chapter 12 (Human Settlement, Infrastructure and Spatial Planning) of Mitigation Report of 5th Assessment Report; Lead Author- Technical Summary and Summary for Policy Makers.
- Speaker to several IPCC Media and Outreach Events: Kathmandu (11-13 April 2017); IPCC WGIII (Mitigation): Consultation and Outreach in Ahmedabad (December 22, 2016- Climate Change and Human Settlements: Emerging themes for AR6); Bangkok (14-15 October 2016- Options for Mitigation, Key Findings for ASEAN); Bangkok (17-18 August 2015); and India (5 August 2014 at TERI University, 6 August 2014 at India Habitat Center).
- Scientific Committee Member for high-level workshop co-organised by Future Earth, PROVIA and co-sponsored by IPCC titled ‘An integrated approach to informing Risk Adaptation for the Sixth Assessment Report: Lessons learned from the Fifth Assessment Report’, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, August, 29-31, 2016.
- Invited Expert to develop assessment framework for IPCC’s 6th Assessment, United Nations, Adis Ababa, 2017.
- Co-chair of Scientific Steering Committee, Cities and Climate Change International Scientific Conference, March 2018, Co-sponsored by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), C40, Cities Alliance, ICLEI, Future Earth, Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), UNHabitat, UN Environment and World Climate Research Programme (WCRP).
GEO and UNEP’s Global Synthesis
- Principle Scientific Reviewer of GEO-5, and few interactions for GEO6
- Member of the team (amongst the 20 co-authors) who developed UNEP -led high-level global scientific assessment launched on 18 February 2021 by UN Secretary-General António Guterres and UNEP’s Executive Director Inger Andersen titled “Making Peace with Nature: a scientific blueprint to tackle the climate, biodiversity and pollution emergencies” that outlines a blueprint to tackle Earth’s interconnected planetary crises presenting the latest science.
International Global Change Science Programs
- Member of Scientific Steering of the Global Carbon Project (2014 onwards)- Global Carbon Project is the premier international science program established in 2001 in response to large scientific challenges and critical nature of the carbon cycle for Earth’s sustainability, now part of Future Earth. Prof. Dhakal led and developed carbon management portfolio especially focusing on urban and regional carbon management.
- Close involvement in several Future earth led initiatives in various capacities
- Since 2002, closely worked with global change science program such as International Geospehere-Biosphere Program (IGBP), International Human Dimensions Program (IHDP) and its various core and joint projects. In recent years, Future Earth has superseded all these programs.
Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN)
- Global Management Team of UCCRN (2013-2018).
- Co-editor of Second Assessment Report on Climate Change and Cities (ARC3.2) which is an IPCC-style assessment aimed at local policy makers and contributed by over 500 prominent scientists across all continents. Other 4 co-editors come from NASA/Columbia University, City University of New York, The New School, and National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR, USA). The report is under publication by Cambridge University Press (in early 2017). The advanced version of Summary for City Policy Makers is available here.
- Lead Author of Chapter 4 (Energy) of 1st Assessment Report on Climate Change and Cities (2011).
Hindu-Kush Himalayan Monitoring and Assessment Program (HIMAP)
In 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Assessment Report-4 announced that climate change will be the most prominent force of global change in the modern era and that the HKH region is seen as ‘a data gap’ area, lacking consistent long-term monitoring. The report calls for national, regional and global attention towards filling this data gap. Not much progress has been reported in IPCC 2014 AR-5 on the HKH region in this regard. While initial progress has been made by universities, NGOs, and science organizations in the region, in assembling and consolidating existing data, the information remains too fragmented and incomplete to derive any meaningful conclusions about trends and scenarios. HIMAP brings a comprehensive assessment that could greatly assist in addressing threats, acting on opportunities, and scaling cutting edge approaches. It fills gap to meet the need for an evidence-based assessment by brings together hundreds of scientists and policy experts.
- Coordinating Lead Author (together with Dr. Leena Srivastava of TERI University India) for Chapter 7 – Meeting Future Energy Needs (Energy Security) of the ongoing HIMAP Assessment, published in 2018.
- Hosting a Table Talk on key finding of HIMAP Energy assessment on April 12, 2017 at Hotel Himalaya, Kathmandu as a part of Science-Policy Dialogue on the Key Findings of the Comprehensive Assessment of the HKH (HIMAP).
Global Energy Assessment (GEA): Global Energy Assessment report, launched in 2012, defines a new global energy policy agenda – one that transforms the way society thinks about, uses, and delivers energy. Involving specialists from a range of disciplines, industry groups, and policy areas, GEA research aims to facilitate equitable and sustainable energy services for all, in particular the two billion people who currently lack access to clean, modern energy.
- Lead Author, Chapter 18 (Urban Energy Systems), this report brings a new synthetic knowledge and analysis; this makes a core building block for many assessments to follow.
- Several chapter contribution in a follow up book titled “Energizing Sustainable Cities: Assessing Urban Energy” by same authors group under the leadership of Prof. Arnulf Grubler (Yale/IIASA). .