IPCC scientist dismisses furore over Himalayan goof-up - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

The scientist behind the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report that falsely claimed the Himalayan glaciers could melt by 2035 has dismissed the furore over the errors as 'a clamour without substance'. According to a report in the Telegraph, the scientist in question is Martin Parry, a climate expert at the Grantham Institute and Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College , London . He said that he was "perplexed" at the way the media has focused on what he called minor points. Speaking for the first time about the errors, he defended the report as "robust and rigorous". Parry was co-chair of the IPCC's working group on impacts, which produced a 2007 report that included the Himalayan glaciers claim. Evidence suggests they will survive another 300 years. The discovery of the mistake, and the way it was handled, has produced calls for IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri to resign. It has also led to reports of further errors in the report, including that the IPCC wrongly stated that 55 per cent of the Netherlands is below sea level. But, in an open letter, Parry said, "What began with a single unfortunate error over Himalayan glaciers has become a clamour without substance." "It is easy to forget the big picture, which is that the WG2 volume represents a sound and reliable statement of our knowledge, and is the product of robust and rigorous assessment by you all," he added. According to Parry, the IPCC had looked into the further alleged mistakes, and that they were "generally unfounded and also marginal to the assessment".