Now, IPCC claims on Amazon fall flat

NEW DELHI: The hits to IPCC and R K Pachauri just don't seem to stop. In the latest embarrassment to the Nobel-winning body, British daily 'Telegraph' has published details on IPCC's dire prediction regarding the huge depletion of Amazon forests, which was based on unverified reports.

The daily said the IPCC forecast about the loss of Amazon forests because of "even a slight reduction in precipitation" came from a journal that was not peer-reviewed. Coming after the disclosure, and acknowledgement, that its warning of 'meltdown' of Himalayan glaciers by 2035 was based on speculation, the latest expose will further undercut IPCC's credibility.

According to the article, Pachauri is under fire for setting a death-date for the Amazon forests. With this, Pachauri's "robust and solid" monitoring system for preparing the IPCC assessment report has been completely shorn of respectability.

In its report, the Telegraph suggests that IPCC did not independently research the claims. It says the claims were lifted off a report done by the WWF, an advocacy group.

According to the British paper, the two 'expert' authors of the WWF cited in the IPCC report are, in fact, not Amazon specialists. One, Dr P F Moore, is a policy analyst while the other, Andy Rowell, is a freelance journalist and a green activist.