Thursday, January 28, 2010

UN Report on Himalayan Glaciers

After protracted debate, UN inter-governmental panel on climate change (IPCC) chairman R.K. Pachauri has admitted that the claim that was made in the panel's report on Himalayan glaciers disappearing by the year 2035 was based merely on estimates and there was no scientific basis for it. This belated admission by Pachauri has come on the eve of the meeting of BASIC countries (India, China, Brazil, and South Africa) in Delhi on the Copenhagen climate change conference.

Exert Pressure on India
Pachauri has tried to brush it under the carpet by calling it human error. The panel is now getting ready to withdraw that report. But this was such a dreadful mistake that unnecessarily made the countrymen concerned and scared. It has put a question mark on the credibility of reports of other UN committees with inter-governmental panels. Are those scientific estimates in accordance with the UN standards? It has now become clear that, no formal research was conducted in this regard and the report calling the situation as horrible was released in the name of scientists. It seems that such report was deliberately prepared to exert pressure on India to save the environment.

Disastrous Consequences
Indian scientists have never conducted any research on Himalayan glaciers, then how was it claimed that all glaciers are melting rapidly and would disappear within 25 years? Why Pachauri's scientific talent could not notice the mistake?
Now, this fact has also come to the fore that none of the scientists who prepared the report on glaciers was an expert on the subject. It is a matter of serious concern. Any scientific study is based on facts. Any mistake in it could have disastrous consequences. Caution should be observed in such matters so that such serious mistake is not repeated in the future.

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