Himalayan glacier meltdown: a scientific blunder, says new report

The argument that the so-called global warming phenomenon is nothing but a hoax gained new ground following a report that is claiming that a warning that most of the Himalayan glaciers will melt by 2035 owing to climate change is likely to be retracted after the United Nations body that issued it admitted to a series of scientific blunders.

It appears that the benchmark report issued in 2007 by the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) claiming that that world’s glaciers were melting so fast that those in the Himalayas could vanish by 2035 may turn out to be a false alarm after all

The IPCC, headed by India’s Rajendra Pachauri, when it released its report two years ago claimed that it had incorporated the latest and most detailed research into the impact of global warming.

A new report from London’s the Sunday Times has pointed out that in the last few days the scientists behind the warning have admitted that it was based on a news story in the New Scientist, a popular science journal, published eight years before the IPCC’s 2007 report.

According to the Sunday Times, the New Scientist report was itself based on a short telephonic interview with Syed Hasnain, an Indian scientist then based at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi.

So, what’s the big deal? Well, it turns out that Hasnain has since come forward with new information: that the claim was a “speculation” and was not supported by any formal research.

The IPCC’s credibility now is being question, as it was set up to ensure that world leaders had the best possible scientific advice on climate change. If Hasnain’s remark is proven to be true, it will certainly cast new light into the climate change debate and the blunder would be one of the most significant failures yet seen in climate research.

As of this writing, the IPCC has yet to comment on the Sunday Times’ report.