The Chairman, Dr Josef Cihlar, also welcomed the participants and in particular welcomed three new members of the Panel, Ing. G. Enrique Ortega Gil from Mexico, Mr Ken-ichi Kuma from Japan, and Dr Rik Leemans from the Netherlands. He thanked Dr Robert Scholes and Ms Dawn Middleton for making the local arrangements for the meeting. He reminded people that this was a Panel sponsored by GCOS and GTOS and referred to the provisional Terms of Reference for the Panel (Annex 3). The purpose of this meeting was to develop the initial stages of a TOPC Implementation Plan for Climate. The Chairman reviewed the provisional agenda (Annex 2). He explained that he hoped the agenda would be flexible depending on the nature of the discussions. The agenda was approved.
