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Introduction
There has been increasing scientific, government and community interest over the last twenty years on the possible role of human activity in global and regional changes to climate. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Program to carry out regular assessments of climate change science, the impacts of climate change, and approaches for mitigation of and adaptation to climate change. It includes representatives of the governments of more than 120 countries and its reports are approved and accepted by consensus of all Panel members.
The main conclusions from the first volume of the IPCC Second Assessment Report "Climate Change 1995" (Houghton et al., 1996) were:
The third conclusion attracted considerable attention, as it suggested for the first time that there was a discernible human influence on global climate.
The IPCC Third Assessment Report is being finalised at present and will be released later in 2001. In this report, there has been a greater appreciation of the important role of the stratosphere in the climate system due to changes in the structure of the stratosphere and recognition of its vital role for both radiative and dynamical processes in the climate system.