A mistake in the landmark 2007 report which exaggerated the speed at which Himalayas glaciers were melting has dented the credibility of the IPCC.
Credit: Wikimedia
UNITED NATIONS: An international review panel called on the U.N. global climate change body to carry out several reforms after embarrassing errors in a 2007 landmark report dented its credibility.
The Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was caught in an international storm after it admitted its landmark 2007 report exaggerated the speed at which Himalayas glaciers were melting.
The independent review by the InterAcademy Council (IAC) said the IPCC has been "successful overall" but called for leadership changes, stricter guidelines on source material, a check on conflicts of interest and more intense public scrutiny from a world grappling with how best to respond to climate change.
Report calls for greater transparency
The five-month probe ordered by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the IPCC should have a stronger scientific basis for making its predictions and recommended an overhaul of the position of IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri.
"The [InterAcademy] report should be welcomed by both scientists and the broader public,” one of the lead authors, Professor Colin Woodroffe from the University of Wollongong, told the Australian Science Media Centre.
“Not only does it applaud the IPCC for its past assessments, but it also recognises that it has adapted its procedures over the course of successive reports, and that it has been successful overall and of great service to the public."
"It advocates greater transparency and more rigorous review, although acknowledging the existing, well-documented review process.”
The Himalayan glaciers mistake
The InterAcademy Council, which groups 15 leading science academies, was brought in after an uproar over the IPCC's 2007 study and the way it highlighted evidence that climate change was already adversely affecting the planet.
In the lead-up to a climate summit in Copenhagen last year, the IPCC was rocked by a scandal involving leaked emails which critics claim showed that they had skewed the scientific data.
The mistake over the Himalayan glaciers - a claim which was found to be sourced to a magazine article - and an earlier error over how much of the Netherlands is below sea level also tainted the IPCC's image.
