The UN science body on climate change, accused of ignoring its critics and allowing glaring errors to creep into its work, announced that a broader range of experts will write its next report on global warming.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change included more women and scientists from developing countries, but also selected authors with a wider range of backgrounds than previously partly in response to recent criticism that earlier groups refused to address dissenting views.
"We didn't want old club members who repeat themselves from one assessment to the next," Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, the group's vice premier, told The Associated Press yesterday.
He noted, in addition to meteorologists, physicists, statisticians and engineers, the latest group of authors now includes at least one philosopher.
The previous panel had 559 members, chosen from 2,000 nominations. This one has 861 experts, picked from 3,000 nominations. Some 60 per cent of the scientists are new to the
role, the IPCC said.
The group, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 together with Al Gore, issues reports that governments, businesses and individuals use to determine how they will deal with climate change.
It began in 1989, and has issued four voluminous reports so far the most recent one in 2007.
