GRAND FORKS (AP) - A University of North Dakota researcher who played a role in a major new report on climate change says it should not be viewed as gloomy.

"It's only intended to be a review of the available scientific literature to let people know what we've found," said Andrei Kirilenko, an associate professor in UND's Earth System Science and Policy department.

The report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said global warming is "unequivocal," "very likely" man-made and will "continue for centuries" - findings bleaker than its last report in 2001.

Kirilenko spent the past few years writing a section of the new report that focuses on "land-use" change, such as agriculture or city expansion, which he said is a leading cause of global warming. Other sections of the report focus on the history of climate change and what needs to be changed if the warming is to be stopped.

"All of these sections are interconnected … the goal is that these scenarios will never be realized," Kirilenko said. "My section, it just didn't exist in the other reports, but scientists have found out about how important land-use change is."

Kirilenko has used math-modeling techniques to study global warming ever since he took a math class years ago at Moscow State University.

"My professor, he saw the light and went to the environmental studies to make a difference," Kirilenko said. "And I followed him."

Kirilenko said the full climate change report, which won't be released until later this year, is a major upgrade to its 2001 predecessor.

"The language in this report is much more affirmative and scientifically sound than in the past," he said.

Kirilenko said he is optimistic that mankind will recognize its environmental errors before it's too late.

"Over the years, I've noticed that people are starting to notice the problem," he said. "Twenty years ago, most people would have laughed at us if we talked about global warming."