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The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was \njointly established by the World Meteorological Organization \nand the United Nations Environment Programme in 1988 to \nassess the scientific and technical literature on climate change, \nthe potential impacts of changes in climate, and options for \nadaption to and mitigation of climate change. Since its inception, \nthe IPCC has produced a series of Assessment Reports, \nSpecial Reports, Technical Papers, methodologies and other \nproducts which have become standard works of reference, \nwidely used by policymakers, scientists and other experts. \nThis Special Report, which has been produced by Working \nGroup II of the IPCC, builds on the Working Group's contribution \nto the Second Assessment Report (SAR), and incorporates \nmore recent information made available since mid-1995. \nIt has been prepared in response to a request from the \nSubsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice \n(SBSTA) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate \nChange (UNFCCC). It addresses an important question posed \nby the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC, \nnamely, the degree to which human conditions and the natural \nenvironment are vulnerable to the potential effects of climate \nchange. The report establishes a common base of information \nregarding the potential costs and benefits of climatic change, \nincluding the evaluation of uncertainties, to help the COP \ndetermine what adaptation and mitigation measures might be \njustified. The report consists of vulnerability assessments for \n10 regions that comprise the Earth's entire land surface and \nadjoining coastal seas: Africa, Arid Western Asia (including the \nMiddle East), Australasia, Europe, Latin America, North \nAmerica, the Polar Regions (The Arctic and the Antarctic), \nSmall Island States, Temperate Asia and Tropical Asia. It also \nincludes several annexes that provide information about climate \nobservations, climate projections, vegetation distribution \nprojections and socioeconomic trends.