Annex I User guide and access to more detailed information

As defined in the IPCC Procedures, the Synthesis Report (SYR) synthesises and integrates material contained within IPCC Assessment Reports and Special Reports. The scope of the SYR of the Fourth Assessment Report includes material contained in the three Working Group contributions to the AR4, and it draws on information contained in other IPCC Reports as required. The SYR is based exclusively on assessments by the IPCC Working Groups, it does not refer to or assess the primary scientific literature itself.

The SYR is largely self-contained but provides only a very condensed summary of the much richer information contained in the underlying Working Group reports. Users may wish to access relevant material at the required level of detail in the following manner:

•  The Summary for Policymakers (SPM) of the SYR provides the most condensed summary of our current understanding of scientific, technical and socio-economic aspects of climate change. All references in curly brackets in this Summary for Policymakers refer to numbered sections of this SYR.
•  The Introduction and six Topics of this SYR provide more detailed and more comprehensive information than the SYR SPM. References in curly backets in the Introduction and six Topics of this SYR point to chapter sections, Summaries for Policymakers and Technical Summaries of the three underlying Working Group reports of the AR4, and in some instances to other topic sections of the SYR itself. References to the IPCC Third Assessment Report in 2001 (TAR) are identified by adding “TAR” in front of the cited report.
•  Users who wish to gain a better understanding of scientific details or access the primary scientific literature on which the SYR is based, should refer to chapter sections of the underlying Working Group reports that are cited in the longer report of the SYR. The individual chapters of the Working Group reports provide comprehensive references to the primary scientific literature on which IPCC assessments are based, and also offer the most detailed region- and sector-specific information.

A comprehensive glossary, list of acronyms, abbreviations and scientific units, and an index are provided below to facilitate use of this report by as wide an audience as possible.