New Delhi: The United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has finally admitted its mistake in asserting that Himalayan glaciers could disappear by 2035.
"In drafting the paragraph in question, the clear and well-established standards of evidence, required by the IPCC procedures, were not applied properly," IPCC clarified in a statement issued from Geneva on Wednesday.
The UN body's claim that Himalayan glaciers could disappear by 2035 originated in a 1999 interview with Indian glaciologist Syed Iqbal Hasnain.
Hasnain now says that he never mentioned the time, in his interview published in New Scientist magazine.
"Whatever got published in New Scientist was a journalistic assumption interpolated by the interviewer, over which I had no control. I must stress that a journalistic substitution of the year 2035 was made without my knowledge and approval," Hasnain claimed in a media release.
Incidentally, Hasnain now works in The Energy Research Institute (TERI) which is headed by Dr RK Pachauri who is also the head of the IPCC.
However, Pachuri refused to take any blame for the faux pas
"No, no! Hasnain used to be with JNU when he did this report. I am not responsible for what Hasnain did before," said Pachauri.
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh had already stated that the claims of the IPCC may have been exaggerated.
"The entire glacier issue especially those related to Himalayan glaciers have been done in an unscientific manner," said Jairam Ramesh.
Meanwhile, the entire glaciergate controversy has given a boost to climate sceptics who for long have maintained that climate predictions are exaggerated.
UK's Daily Telegraph newspaper had last month accused Pachauri of making a fortune from his links with 'carbon trading' companies.
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