Thread by @schipper_lisa

'Where are the numbers in the new #IPCC #WGII report??'
Irate journalists demanded to know at a press briefing with some IPCC authors over the weekend. A brief thread on why this IPCC report may contain the most (and most robust) qualitative social science knowledge yet.

The #IPCC process has been critiqued for being positivist and reductionist - favouring messages with numbers over descriptive contextual knowledge. @NavrozDubash, @MulugettaYacob and I attempted to summarise this here last year: link.springer.com/article/10.100…

We drew on established arguments, for example by Castree et al (2014) that previous efforts to consolidate climate change knowledge 'reveal a limited conception of social science and virtually ignore the humanities'. nature.com/articles/nclim…

More recently, Ritodhi Chakraborty & @PasangYangjee call for taking seriously a growing engagement with plural worldviews in the #IPCC reports. link.springer.com/article/10.100…

The #WGII #AR6 report is by no means perfect - it is still the product of multiple rounds of peer review and a very serious attempt to balance what we know with how much confidence we have in this knowledge. But what have we done differently in this #IPCC report?

First, there is a HUGE new amount of research on adaptation & vulnerability assessed in #WGII, much grounded in #ClimateJustice = inherently qualitative. That is not because CJ is *trendy* but because decades of research show that adaptation & vulnerability work best with CJ.

Second, we have (possibly) more qualitative authors in the #WGII report than ever before. Not only that, years of eloquent argumentation of the merits of robust empirical research have paid off = Co-Chairs and Vice-Chairs AND reviewers accepted the need for qualitative knowledge.

A quick count by @RGS_IBGhe and @DianaLiv identified more than 50 authors with degrees in Geography, and casting this net more widely, we can easily include disciplines like Development Studies (mine!).

https://twitter.com/RGS_IBGhe/status/1498348930689605633

Add to that qualitative political scientists, philosophers, anthropologists, I think the #IPCC #WGII report has approximately 1/4-1/3 of the 270 authors who are qualitative scientists. #ClimateReport

Third, while still a work in progress, the #WGII report included more engagement with Indigenous Knowledge holders than ever before. They helped assess literature as contributing authors. You can learn more about that from @Sherilee_H

https://twitter.com/Sherilee_H/status/1498659493462351877

This is why notions of colonialism, past development conditions and issues of power feature strongly. Don't forget that one of our key messages is about the importance of inclusive governance for advancing #ClimateResilientDevelopment.

https://twitter.com/_chandnisingh/status/1498482512984559616

But we still have work to do! And this includes thinking about how we can do interdisciplinary work on climate change that respects all disciplines and engages a plurality of ontological and epistemological perspectives. Remember, consensus isn't necessarily needed to move ahead.