New Delhi, Feb 5 (Inditop.com) World leaders Friday joined Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in backing the embattled UN climate change panel co-chair R.K. Pachauri, saying global warming has the potential to melt polar ice and lead to a rise in sea levels.
Pitching for a legally binding global treaty to curb global warming, the prime ministers of Norway, Greece, Finland, Slovenia and Bhutan defended the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report’s findings about the impact of global warming on glaciers and sea levels.
The endorsement for Pachauri came at the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit (DSDS), the first major global meet on climate change after the Copenhagen conference in December last year, that failed to produce a legally binding treaty.
The IPCC has been facing flak since revelations last month that its Fourth Assessment Report mistakenly predicted that the Himalayan glaciers could disappear by 2035 as a result of global warming.
“Some of the recommendations have been subject to criticism. In principle, I welcome criticism. I congratulate R.K. Pachauri for taking steps to correct mistakes,” said Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.
“But the main point of climate panel’s report remains unchanged. Polar ice is melting. Sea levels are rising and the globe is warming,” the Norwegian prime minister said.
He also warned against using criticism of the IPCC report for gaining political ends.
In a similar vein, Finish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said the world must move together to combat global warming and efforts should be made to reach a legally binding agreement on cutting greenhouse gas emissions at the next UN conference in Mexico.
Bhutanese Prime Minister Jigme Yoser Thinley imparted an emotive touch to the contested point about the melting of the Himalayan glaciers.
Recalling his flight from Thimphu to Delhi, Thinley said he was saddened to see large brown patches and jagged outcrops of rocks in place of pristine snow-clad Himalayas a few years ago.
“It’s not just about science,” he said, “but one can experience the impact of global warming. The gods appear to have deserted the snowy abode of the Himalayas”.
Alluding to his country’s unique approach of measuring development in terms of what it calls Gross National Happiness, Thinley said the world has to move to a more humane model of development to combat global warming.
Quebec’s Premier Jean Charest too came out strongly in defence of Pachauri.
“We fully subscribe to the work done by Pachauri and IPCC. We are affected by rapidly changing climate,” he said.
Making a case for close collaboration between developed and developing countries to combat global warming, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said the developed world was ready to finance the transition of developing countries to low-carbon economy.
Agreed Stoltenberg: “The idea is to create financial flow to developing countries.”
“The next revolution will be a green revolution,” said the Finnish prime minister, while calling for more concrete financial commitments by developed countries.
Inaugurating the three-day conference, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh threw his weight behind the IPCC and its leaders.
“Let me here assert that India has full confidence in the IPCC process and its leadership and will support it in every way that it can,” Manmohan Singh said.
“Some aspects of the science that is reflected in the work of the IPCC have faced criticism. But this debate does not challenge the core projections of the IPCC about the impact of greenhouse gas accumulations on temperature, rainfall and sea level rise,” Manmohan Singh said.
The conference entitled “Beyond Copenhagen: New Pathways to Sustainable Development” has been organised by The Energy Research Institute (TERI).
