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The United Nations Environment Programme has said the review of the working of Dr R K Pachauri-headed IPCC by the Inter-Academic Council (IAC) does not question the science of climate change and views to the contrary should not hold back the international community from finding a decisive new agreement that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 'safe' levels.
''UNEP's initial response to this thorough report, conducted by the leading body representing many of the world's distinguished scientific academies, is that it re-affirms the integrity, the importance and validity of the IPCC's work while recognising areas for improvement in a rapidly evolving field,'' the UN body said in a response posted on its website.
''UNEP welcomes the independent review of the IAC, requested by the United Nations Secretary General and the chair of the Inter governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). We will now study the findings and recommendations and look forward to how governments will respond when they meet at the upcoming IPCC plenary in the Republic of Korea in October,'' it said responding to the Review Report that came this week.
As the IAC has pointed out in its preface to its report, several recent reviews including by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency and the United States National Research Council carried out following concern over alleged errors in the 2007 fourth assessment of the IPCC have concluded that the key findings remain unaffected.
The thousands of scientists involved in the fourth assessment of the IPCC concluded that it is over 90 per cent certain that human beings and their activities were contributing to climate change, it said.
The IAC did not review the fundamental science of climate change but was asked with reviewing the processes, procedures and management of the IPCC in part to minimise errors as the body moves forward, the UNEP pointed out, adding that the IAC has today outlined a series of recommendations that can strengthen the administration; management, functioning and work of the IPCC, co-hosted by UNEP and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), as it undertakes its crucial fifth assessment.
The report comes in the wake of a year in which extreme and tragic weather events have occurred in 2010--from the forests fires in Russia to the floods in Pakistan, China, Europe and elsewhere.
These are the kind of extreme weather events in line with the forecasts of the IPCC which, unless climate change is addressed, are likely to become ever more frequent, ever more extreme and more costly, UNEP said.
The IAC report was released this week.
