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After the melting glaciers fiasco, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is now being challenged on its claim about the disappearing Amazonian forests
Scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have become embroiled in an increasingly bitter feud in recent weeks for withholding information, exaggerating claims, and publishing seriously flawed research ever since they were forced to admit that they were wrong in their prediction that the Himalayan glaciers would melt by 2035. Accused of incorrectly linking global warming to an increase in natural disasters, the latest case revolves around an IPCC report stating that global warming was behind reductions in mountain ice in the Andes, Alps and in Africa. The organisation cites two scientific papers as its primary source of information. However, according to media reports, the two sources are an article published in a magazine for mountaineers, and a geography student’s master’s dissertation. The article in the magazine Climbing News was based on anecdotal evidence about changes the authors were witnessing during their climbs. The dissertation by a student from the University of Bern in Switzerland reportedly quoted interviews with mountain guides in the Alps. To back its claims that “40% of the Amazon forests could disappear due to declining rainfall and even be replaced by tropical savannah,” the IPCC cites a report by the environment group WWF that is now being questioned. The pressure is on the IPCC to improve its procedures. “Clearly, evangelism has overtaken science… There is a clear need to distinguish science from advocacy, and the IPCC should stick with science,” India’s environment minister Jairam Ramesh said. UK’s secretary of state for energy and climate change Ed Miliband, however, noted that it would be “profoundly irresponsible” to allow recent controversies over scientific data to undermine the fight against climate change. “Yes, it was bad a mistake that was made. Yes, the IPCC needs to reform its procedures so these kinds of mistakes don’t happen again. But the truth is it doesn’t undermine decades of climate research.” The rich countries of the world were due to submit targets for cutting carbon emissions early this week as part of ongoing UN negotiations to tackle climate change agreed at Copenhagen last year. But, in a briefing from senior officials it appears that few countries have pushed up their targets and some may even miss the deadline. There is also clear concern that the case for global warming has been damaged by recent events. Bob Watson, a former chairman of the IPCC and chief scientist at Defra, said mistakes like the claim about the Himalayan glaciers were undermining the whole argument. “When the IPCC is challenged for a faulty sentence it does make the public wonder if there are other mistakes in the IPCC, so it is quite clear we need to look at the IPCC processes,” he said. The climate change community is already reeling over the ‘climategate’ scandal which saw scientists at the University of East Anglia accused of being willing to manipulate climate change data to exaggerate the extent of global warming. Sir David King, a former chief scientist, says the world is in danger of dismissing “the greatest danger civilisation has ever faced” because of a few mistakes. “It is a little bit of doubt, but it is what people want to hear and it has spread a lot of concern about the science of climate change,” he said. Critics are now calling for the resignation of Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the IPCC. The Nobel winner’s heavyweight credentials are likely to be further undermined by reports that he found time to write a steamy novel and swapped his electric car for a 1.8-litre Toyota Corolla for the commute to his office. But, except for using intemperate language, the world’s climate change pointsman says he isn’t guilty of anything: conflicts of interest or wearing Armani suits. Pachauri says he will continue battling global lobbies that refuse to accept planetary warming. He faces a barrage of allegations ranging from the IPCC’s scientific slips to conflicts of interest with his other persona, as chief of the NGO The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), to personal allegations. In less than two months after the Copenhagen summit, Pachauri has lost some of his halo as an Indian hero but none of his feistiness as he vows to stay the course and prepare the ground for the world’s next crucial climate summit in Mexico later this year. Source: The Economic Times, February 2, 2010
Hindustan Times, February 2, 2010
http://www.telegraph.co.uk, February 2, 2010
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