The Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA), at its twentieth session, welcomed the exchange of views among representatives of government research programmes and international programmes and bodies during the event requested by the SBSTA, and held at the twentieth session of the SBSTA, on research in response to the recommendations of the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The following were noted as requiring further consideration:
(a) The need to assess the adequacy of research activities and their international coordination to meet the needs of the Convention
(b) The importance of social as well as natural sciences, and the interaction between the two, in responding to the research needs arising from the assessment reports of the IPCC
(c) The enhancement of the capacity of developing countries to contribute to and participate in global climate change research efforts, such as those coordinated by the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), the International Geosphere–Biosphere Programme (IGBP), the International Human Dimensions Programme (IHDP) and DIVERSITAS.

The SBSTA requested Parties to submit to the secretariat, by 15 September 2004, their views on how to adequately address the main issues arising from the event requested by the SBSTA, in particular those mentioned in the paragraph above, for consideration by the SBSTA at its twenty-first session. It requested the secretariat to compile these submissions into a miscellaneous document. The secretariat has received five such submissions. In accordance with the procedure for miscellaneous documents, these submissions are reproduced in the language in which they were received and without formal editing.