New Delhi: The Rajendra Pachauri-led Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report that claimed that most of the Himalayan glaciers would melt by 2035 owing to climate change and global warning was made without any scientific basis.
IPCC, a United Nations body, is likely to retract the report after admitting to a series of scientific blunders in its prediction.
WWF-India Climate Change and Energy Programme chief Shirish Sinha admitted that there are "limitations to scientific models used for such studies."
"We need to look at new data and study. The larger issue is the coming of scientific data which is not validated," said Sinha.
The report was based on compilation of papers. We regret the report that was put out. The information used in the report was not validated and the predictions were based on scientific models. What WWF has seen is that smaller glaciers are more vulnerable but larger ones are not that vulnerable," added Sinha.
A little-known scientist Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, Syed Hasnain who first issued the doomsday warning, has admitted that it was based on a news story in a science journal.
Pachauri, however, washed his hands off the report saying Husnain was not working with him but in the JNU when he published it
"Husnain was with JNU when the report was published in 1999. I am not responsible for what he did in his past, can't say anything now. Have to assess facts first," Pachauri replied when asked if the misleading report was an embarrassment for The Energy and Resources Institute.
Earlier, some reports had claimed that IPCC had ignored the peer review process while making its report.
Just before the Copenhagen Climate Summit Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh had said that there was no conclusive scientific evidence to link global warming to what had been happening to the Himalayan glaciers.
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