The United Nations-led Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) admitted on Wednesday that “clear and well-established standards of evidence were not applied properly” and expressed regret within days of allegations that the Nobel-winning agency had got it wrong that Himalayan glaciers would vanish by 2035.
“It has recently come to our attention that poorly substantiated estimates of rate of recession and date for the disappearance of Himalayan glaciers were contributed in the report. In drafting the paragraph in question, the clear and well-established standards of evidence required by IPCC procedures were not applied
properly,” the IPCC said in a statement.
“The chair, vice-chairs, and co-chairs of the IPCC regret the poor application of well-established IPCC procedures in this instance. This episode demonstrates the quality of assessment depends on absolute adherence to IPCC standards, including thorough review of quality and validity of each source before incorporating results from the source into an IPCC report. We reaffirm our strong commitment to ensuring this level of performance.”
But quoting from The Synthesis Report, the concluding document of its Fourth Assessment Report, the IPCC added in its statement:
“Climate change is expected to exacerbate current stresses on water resources from population growth and economic and land-use change, including urbanisation. On a regional scale, mountain snow pack, glaciers and small ice caps play a crucial role in freshwater availability. Widespread mass losses from glaciers and reductions in snow cover over recent decades are projected to accelerate throughout the 21st century, reducing water availability, hydropower potential, and changing seasonality of flows in regions supplied by meltwater from major mountain ranges — Hindu Kush-Himalaya, Andes — where more than one-sixth of the world’s population currently lives.
“This conclusion is robust, appropriate, and entirely consistent with the underlying science and the broader IPCC assessment.”
The statement was issued a day after Syed Hasnain, the glaciologist quoted in the report, said he was never contacted by the IPCC while preparing the report, and that he was misquoted by a journalist.
