IPCC scientists convene in Arusha for lead-author drafting meeting on next climate science report

Authors for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s physical science assessment have convened in Arusha, Tanzania, this week for a key drafting session on the next major global climate report, a milestone in the long process behind the IPCC’s Seventh Assessment Report.

The five-day gathering, running from Nov. 2 to Nov. 6, is the Third Lead Author Meeting, or LAM3, for Working Group I, the branch of the U.N.-backed climate body that assesses the physical science basis of climate change. As of Monday, it is a working meeting to advance draft chapters, not a session expected to produce new scientific findings or release final report text.

The purpose of the Arusha meeting is to move the draft forward. Authors are expected to review newly published research, resolve outstanding scientific issues, refine chapter text and graphics, and work through comments submitted during the First Order Draft expert review. That review ran from Aug. 10 to Oct. 2, 2026, and is one of several formal stages used to test and strengthen the report before later rounds of review.

Local media reports said the meeting is expected to bring together about 300 scientists; one report described more than 300 scientists from 75 countries, including authors, chapter scientists, co-chairs, vice-chairs and technical support staff. The meeting is being organized by the IPCC Working Group I Technical Support Unit and Bureau in collaboration with the Tanzania Meteorological Authority, or TMA, on behalf of the government of Tanzania.

Working Group I is the part of the IPCC that assesses core climate science: observed changes in the climate system, the processes driving those changes, the extent to which human activity is responsible, future climate projections and regional climate information. Drafting meetings like this matter because IPCC assessments are built through repeated author revisions and expert review, with scientists updating chapters in response to comments before the text moves to later draft stages.

Hosting the meeting in Tanzania is also notable beyond logistics. Local officials have framed it as an opportunity to raise African participation and visibility in the IPCC process. A central Tanzanian figure in the meeting is Dr. Ladislaus Chang’a, director-general of TMA and an IPCC vice-chair.

“The work involves assessing how climate systems are changing, the extent of global temperature increases and whether extreme weather events, including heavy rainfall, droughts and strong winds, are becoming more frequent and intense,” Chang’a told The Citizen in comments published Sunday.

He also said the meeting offered an opportunity for Tanzanian scientists and peers from other African countries to engage with international experts and strengthen their participation in climate research.

For now, though, the significance of the Arusha meeting lies in the process rather than any headline conclusion. It is not an approval session, governments are not line-editing a Summary for Policymakers, and no new scientific conclusions or official report text had been released from the meeting as of Monday.