I will not go, says climate chief

Rajendra Pachauri
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Rajendra Pachauri told BBC News: "I am not going to stand down, I am going to stand up."

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) admitted that it had made a mistake in asserting that Himalayan glaciers could disappear by 2035.

Critics say the mistake has damaged the scientific credibility of the IPCC.

"I was re-elected by acclamation, essentially - I imagine - because everyone was satisfied with my performance on the fourth assessment report," Dr Pachauri said.

"I am now charged with producing the fifth assessment report, which I will do faithfully and to the best of my abilities."

Credibility concerns

Last week, IPCC vice-chairman Jean-Pascal van Ypersele admitted that the inclusion of the 2035 date in a key report was a mistake.

The date appeared in the IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report (4AR), which read: "Glaciers in the Himalayas are receding faster than in any other part of the world... the likelihood of them disappearing by the year 2035 and perhaps sooner is very high."

A number of scientists had recently disputed the date, after a row erupted in India late last year in the run-up to the Copenhagen climate summit, which BBC News reported on 05 December.

Opposing factions in the Indian government gave radically different opinions of what was happening to Himalayan ice.

Dr Pachauri said the inclusion of the 2035 date in the 4AR, which was published in 2007, was "a case of human error", adding that it was unfortunate that it had happened.

"However, let me emphasise that this does not in any way detract from the fact that the glaciers are melting, and this is a problem that we need to be deeply concerned about."

He told BBC News that he became aware of the error "maybe around the 16th or 17th of January".

"Then we swung into action," he explained.

"I got the entire top team of the IPCC to go through the details of this case, and we decided that this was an error but we also saw that this did not in any way move away from the reality that these glaciers are melting."

climate scientist, dr pachauri, un

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Vote: +0

"While this date may have been in error, it is still a fact that the glaciers are still melting at a rapid rate. It may be important that the date was miscalculated, however, that does not mean that this information is any less important and critical. We know the glaciers around the world are melting at a high rate and we must do something about it, instead of just sitting around and talking about it and going back and forth as to when it will and wont happen or if it is happening at all. just the fact alone that the glaciers are melting at all is enough to say "people, get off your asses and do something to stop this global warming" and do what you know is right . Get your heads out of the sand and become proactive now."

By: candeeb :: 2 years ago