United Nations: UN climate panel chief
Rajendra Pachauri, facing criticism for errors in a landmark report, has refused to quit, saying that he will remain with
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change till the fifth
report is produced in 2014.
"At the moment, my mandate is very clear. I have
to complete the fifth assessment and now I feel that I have an
additional responsibility in seeing that the reforms are
carried forward on the strength of the IAC (InterAcademy
Council) recommendations," Pachauri said.
"Till such time that I see anything different, I feel
the task that I have begun is something that I can`t walk
away from," he said.
Pachauri was responding to queries yesterday about how
he intended to implement several recommendations made by the
InterAcademy Council, which conducted a review of the working
of the IPCC following widespread criticism stemming from
erroneous conclusions in its fourth report.
Following a review of the procedure and processes of
the IPCC, the InterAcademy Council committee released a report
on Monday, which urged "fundamental changes" to the management
of the IPCC.
These recommendations included cutting down the tenure
of chair of the IPCC, which currently consists of two six-year
terms.
The committee, however, stressed that its present
conclusion was not based on media reports that had raised
questions about Pachauri`s earnings from his consultancies
with carbon trading companies and calls by some groups that he
should resign.
"An organisation like this needs to have its
leadership constantly changed to increase the vitality here,"
said Harold Shapiro, chair of InterAcademy Council committee,
adding that the suggestion was "not in anyway connected to
Pachauri or any other leader of the IPCC."
Pachauri emphasised that the recommendations would
have to be debated by the 194 governments of the IPCC at the
upcoming meeting in Busan, South Korea in October.
"These will be debated by all the governments of the
world and they would then decide what`s to be implemented,
when it is to be implemented," the scientist said.
"I am in no position to speculate on what that
decision would be." "I have been elected to continue the fifth assessment
process. But I am a servant of the IPCC and of course I shall
decide abide by any decision that the ICC takes," he added.
The InterAcademy, founded in 2002, assembles leading
scientists and engineers from all nations to provide
peer-reviewed advice to international bodies.
The review of the IPCC`s working method was set up in
March following the discovery of exaggerated claims in the
fourth report of the scientific body.
PTI
