Scientists unhappy with changes in climate report

NEW DELHI: The scaling down of the report on the impact of climate changes, by several governments, has angered scientists, and some have vowed never to participate in the process again.

Several governments had forced scaling down of the report prepared by the scientists for United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was released in Brussels on April 6.

Intense arguments had taken place before the agreement could be reached on the report’s conclusions, in which many key sections were deleted. Scientists confronted government negotiators who they feared were watering down their findings. Several scientists objected to the editing of the final draft by government negotiators but, in the end, agreed to the compromises.

IPCC Chairman RK Pachauri conceded there were prolonged, laborious discussions, but disagreed that the report was watered down. “The governments questioned certain aspects of the report and the authors tried to defend it convincingly. In the course of the process, there are improvements and modifications in the language. That is the whole purpose of the process,” he  said. “As for scientists threatening to leave, if at the end of nightlong session some one asks me at 6 in the morning what I think of the whole thing, I would say ‘to hell with IPCC’. It’s but human,” said Pachauri.

The detailed 5-day negotiations reported in a bulletin of International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) revealed the tussle that occurred at the meet. Delegates removed parts of a key chart highlighting devastating effects of climate change that kick in with every rise of 1.8 degrees, and in a tussle over the level of scientific reliability attached to key statements.

The US, China and Saudi Arabia raised many of the objections to the phrasing, often seeking to tone down the certainty of some of the more dire projections. The report projected an increased risk of disappearance of up to 30 percent of species if global temperatures rise 3.6 degrees above the average in the 1980s and 1990s. Areas in drought will become even drier, adding to the risks of hunger and disease, it said.

Heightened threats of flooding, severe storms and erosion of coastlines were other projections. More than 120 nations attended the meeting. Each word was approved by consensus, and any change had to be approved by the scientists who drew up that section of the report.

This year’s series of reports by the IPCC were the first in six years from the prestigious body of 2,500 scientists, formed in 1988.

‘Food, water scarcity in India by 2050’

IPCC report says food and water scarcity loom large over India as global temperatures are rising due to emission of greenhouse gases, and its effects will be visible by year 2050. IPCC head Dr R K Pachauri said the UN Panel projects substantial decreases in the production of food grains in India and other Asian countries.

He said half a degree Celsius rise in winter temperatures would reduce wheat production by 0.45 metric tons per hectare.

Water availability was also going to be seriously affected by the rise in global temperatures, Dr Pachauri said. Water available per person will be reduced by almost 38 per cent. This water shortage will be caused by deficient rains, melting of glaciers due to rise in temperature, and reduction in recharge of ground water due to run off as a consequence of floods resulting from excessive rain over a few days.

The report, which is a joint effort of scientists from over 100 countries, also said that water flow in the Ganga, Brahmaputra, Godavari and other major rivers of the country will be severely affected by the melting of glaciers.

India is completely unprepared for the effects of climate change that could lead to widespread flooding and drought across the impoverished country, a researcher said Tuesday. On a scale of 10, India’s preparedness is 0.5, warned Pachauri.