World leaders rally in support of Pachauri
February 5th, 2010 - 4:36 pm ICT by IANS
New Delhi, Feb 5 (IANS) World leaders Friday rallied to the defence of beleaguered UN climate change panel co-chair R.K. Pachauri and asserted that the disclosures about the mistakes in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) report had not altered fundamental facts about global warming.
The prime ministers of Norway, Greece, Finland and Bhutan at the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit (DSDS) that began here defended the IPCC report and its findings about the impact of global warming on glaciers and rising sea levels.
“Some of the recommendations have been subject to criticism. In principle I welcome criticism. I congratulate R.K. Pachauri for taking steps to correct mistakes,” said Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.
“But the main point of climate panel’s report remains unchanged. Polar ice is melting. Sea levels are rising and the globe is warming,” the Norwegian prime minister said. He also warned against using criticism for gaining political edge.
In a similar vein, Finish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said that regardless of the panel’s report the world must move together to combat global warming and efforts should be made to reach a legally binding agreement on cutting green house gas emissions.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh his address also backed the IPCC and its leadership, which has been under fire since revelations last month that its landmark Fourth Assessment Report mistakenly predicted that the Himalayan glaciers could disappear by 2035 as a result of global warming.
A day earlier, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh too had come out in support of Pachauri, who is under sustained attack in the British media in particular.
- World leaders join Manmohan Singh in backing Pachauri (Lead) - Feb 05, 2010
- PM backs IPCC, disappointed with Copenhagen (Lead) - Feb 05, 2010
- Pachauri should stand firm: Farooq Abdullah - Feb 06, 2010
- India needs more research on climate change: Shyam Saran - Feb 08, 2010
- EU offers to update IPCC report - Feb 06, 2010
- UNFCC, government back Pachauri (Lead) - Feb 04, 2010
- Science writer Fred Pearce asks Dr. Pachauri to step down as IPCC Chairman - Oct 03, 2010
- India to fight attempts to unseat Pachauri: Jairam (Lead) - Mar 15, 2010
- Pachauri concedes mistake, but in no mood to resign - Jan 23, 2010
- Warning of rising seas alarmist and wrong - Dec 06, 2010
- Pachauri too doubts if glaciers would vanish by 2035 (Lead) - Jan 18, 2010
- India will fight attempts to unseat Pachauri: Jairam Ramesh - Mar 15, 2010
- Independent scientists to review IPCC report - Feb 27, 2010
- Put on notice, India's Pachauri tasked with carrying out IPCC reform - Oct 20, 2010
- Scientists slam IPCC blunder, chief goes mum (Roundup) - Jan 21, 2010
Tags: climate change panel, correct mistakes, delhi sustainable development, development summit, dsds, fundamental facts, green house gas emissions, himalayan glaciers, intergovernmental panel on climate change, ipcc report, jairam ramesh, jens stoltenberg, manmohan singh, matti vanhanen, norwegian prime minister, political edge, prime minister manmohan, prime minister manmohan singh, prime minister matti vanhanen, rising sea levels
