'UN report on Indian glaciers sugarcoated'

Dr Pachauri said the findings will send strong signals to India that climate change is due to human activity, reports Chetan Chauhan.

Published on: Jan 31, 2007, 23:02:00 IST

None | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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A new United Nation’s report on climate change predicting faster melting of glaciers, higher rise in sea levels, quicker precipitation changes for India have been termed as 'sugarcoated' findings by some of the Indian scientists.

With the earth’s temperature expected to rise as never reported before, the International Panel on Climate Change report, to be released on Friday, has estimated huge loss of bio-diversity for the developing countries like India because of higher green house emissions.

Speaking to Hindustan Times from Paris, Dr RK Pachauri, chief of IPCC, said the findings would send a strong message for countries like India that climate change impact is taking place and is largely because of human activity.

"The impact will be more visible in Sunderbans in the coming years and in the glaciers. Climate change is impacting everyone but will effect poor population more than the richer ones," he said.

The global report, prepared by 500 lead authors and scientists, also says that India will emerge as one of the major carbon dioxide contributors to global green house emissions if the remedial steps are not taken fast. India’s booming economy and consequent rise in energy consumption are the cause.

The findings of the report have not surprised Indian scientists. "Most of the findings of the report are already known," said Dr Sugata Hazra, head of Department of Oceanography at Jadhavpur University.

His team had recorded submersion of the world’s first habituated island in Sunderbands in 2006. "There are many more islands heading for a similar fate if the sea level rises at the present rate," he said.

Hazra has a slightly different take on sea level rise as predicted in the UN report. “The 60-70 cm rise in seal level predicted by IPCC for the end of 2100 is very moderate and less than its earlier prediction. I believe that seas will rise much more leading to submersion of low lying areas,” he said, admitting of IPCC’s limitation on CO emission data and the pressure from industry and rich countries.

Dr Pauchari’s reaction to criticism of scientists was that it is their choice to accept or reject the findings. “The findings are much more stronger than the existing ones. I also want to assure them (scientists) that the entire process was transparent and open and there was not any kind of pressure,” he said.

The draft assessment report of the IPCC is first validated by 154 nations before adoption at the plenary session. The draft report was send to all nations, including United States, which put the report on its website for comments inviting furious remarks from the scientists. “The governments give their comments which may be accepted or not accepted by the scientists,” he said.

The report not only provides models for possible rise in temperature on earth’s surface and its impact on humanity it also provides solutions for the government to adopt. The last IPCC report was released in 2001.

Ends
Email id : chetan@hindustantimes.com.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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