Vini Mariyane Rosya

Pressure on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is mounting after a series of climate investigation misjudgments. The only intergovernmental panel charged with evaluating the risks of human-caused climate change will officially hear the results of an investigation by a committee formed by the In-,ter-Academy Council on Monday (or Tuesday Indonesian time).

According to the plan, the presentation of the decision, which will be read directly by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, will take place in New York. The committee will present a review of the continuity of the panel that has been established for more than two decades.

The IPCC came under scrutiny after admitting it made a mistake in its 2007 report, which stated Himalayan glaciers were melting to the tune of one-fifth by 2035.

Much of this climate science controversy began in November. At that time, more than 1,000 rehashed e-mails from a climate research institute at the University of East Anglia, UK, were posted online.

The e-mails said that scientists at the lab, some of whom were involved in writing the IPCC report, were trying to convince people that climate breakdown was caused by human activity. In many of the e-mail displays it is clear that the IPCC researchers never had enough evidence for the reports they issued. The panel was also criticized for the sources of information used in compiling the reports, which turned out to be invalid. A number of statements were found to be based on information taken from reports by environmental lobby groups, magazine articles, and student dissertations.

Professor Robert Watson, a former IPCC panel member described the way the IPCC dealt with errors as truly appalling. He stated that the panel should consider hiring additional staff to check all sources of information, or references, and ensure the accuracy of statements made in future reports.

""For me the fundamental problem is that when errors are found they are dealt with totally and appallingly,"" he said as reported by BBC Neivs, yesterday.

Watson sees that so far the IPCC does not have a proper self-evaluation system. ""The IPCC needs to find a mechanism so that if something needs to be corrected, there is a quick way to get the corrections that need to be made,"" he said.

Not just a review

During the presentation, many people hoped that the investigation team would not just impose sanctions, but also find appropriate solutions and recommendations on the impact of mistakes on various panel policies. Watson said the committee is more necessary to prevent mistakes that appeared in the "previous panel reports."

""There may be a role for the UN secretariat, effectively, and by employing additional staff or perhaps undergraduate and graduate students, that allows them to be able to follow up on the whole IPPC error reference chain,"" he said.

As an organization created by the UN, the IPCC is recognized by its director, Dr Rajendra Pachauri, as a weak organization. As a body dedicated to humanity, the IPCC turned out to be incapable.

""It is a body accountable to humans around the world and will be noticed and questioned more often in the future. However, we are not prepared for that,"" he admitted at a press conference last weekend.

Pachauri said his organization is hiring additional personnel to make the IPCC work better. More and better-trained personnel, he added, would make it easier for the IPCC to explain the group's work to the public.

The same thing was expressed by Inter-Academy Panel Board member Mario Molina. According to him, the number of IPCC employee members is only a few dozen, making it difficult for him to blame the IPCC completely.

""The IPCC reports could of course leverage stronger and more explicit opinions from the scientific community. However, due to the minimal number of IPCC staff, there is no possibility to do this,"" he said.

Not only that, in his eyes, the IPCC turns out to have a weak organization and does not have a strong mechanism for possible errors that arise. Referring to the Hima-layagate case in 2007, Molina claimed to have included a number of recommendations in their review.

""The IPCC does not have a permanent structure that can answer the different types of questions that arise. This is what we recommend."" he said.

A professor of climate change at the University of East Anglia, UK, said change is clearly needed if the world organization is not to be disbanded. The IPCC needs to find a consensus that both obscures and reconstructs the wider social and scientific debate about the knowledge and value drivers that surround the politics of climate change. ""The IPCC has not adequately adapted to the changing science and politics of climate change, nor to the changing expectations and roles it is expected to play in society,"" he said. (BBC/ WSJj /Telegraph/ M-4)vini@mediaindonesia.com