The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) — the UN body that provides the science on climate change — has accepted it made a mistake in concluding that Himalayan glaciers would disappear by 2035 if global warming continued at current levels.
In a statement from Geneva, IPCC said this conclusion in its fourth assessment report that came out in 2007 was based on “poorly substantiated estimates of rate of recession and date of disappearance of Himalayan glaciers”. It also admitted that “clear and well-established standards of evidence, required by the IPCC procedures, were not applied properly”, and that “the Chair, Vice-Chairs and Co-Chairs of the IPCC regret” this.
Murari Lal, one of the scientists who wrote the concerned chapter in that report, however, said all procedures were followed. “This is more about a systematic failure of the (IPCC) review process. The... conclusions were sent to hundreds of scientists and governments... and no one raised any doubts... then,” he said.
The IPCC fourth assessment report had cited a 2005 WWF report for the 2035 date. The WWF report itself had picked up that date from a 1999 report in the New Scientist, quoting Indian researcher Prof Syed Iqbal Hasnain. But Hasnain has denied having mentioned 2035 to the magazine, and accused it of making a “journalistic assumption”.
