Global warming: govt to set up National Institute of Himalayan Glaciology
05 Feb 2010
In a move that is being seen as a significant snub to IPCC and its chief Dr R K Pachauri, the government has announced it would set up a new body to monitor the effects of global warming as it could not rely on the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
The IPCC and its chairman Pachauri have come in for flak over allegedly false claims in its report that most of the Himalayan glaciers would melt away by 2035.
Scientists say it could take more than 300 years for the glaciers to disappear.
The false claims added to the growing tensions between Pachauri and the government, which had questioned his glacial melting claims. Minister for environment, Jairam Ramesh said that while glacial melting in the Himalayas remained a real concern, evidence suggested some glaciers were actually advancing in the face of global warming.
Ramesh said that the government would establish a separate National Institute of Himalayan Glaciology, to monitor the effects of climate change on the world's 'third ice cap'. The 'Indian IPCC' would use 'climate science' to assess the impact of global warming throughout the country.
The new National Institute of Himalayan Glaciology would be based in Dehradun, in Uttarakhand. The institute will monitor glacial changes and compare results with those from glaciers in Pakistan, Nepal and Bhutan.