Report as solid as careful science can make it: IPCC

Facing severe criticism in the wake of revelations that its landmark 2007 report contained some highly embarrassing mistakes....

Facing severe criticism in the wake of revelations that its landmark 2007 report contained some highly embarrassing mistakes,the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on Wednesday defended its procedures and said any report as wide-ranging and voluminous as the one it produced could not be completely error-free.

In a detailed statement explaining its principles and procedures,the IPCC said the conclusions in its fourth assessment report,which came out in 2007 and won it the Nobel Peace Prize,were as solid as careful science can make them.

The IPCC relies on a combination of broad participation,rigorous oversight,and transparent,thorough adherence to carefully designed procedures to produce assessment reports that have become,over the last 20 years,the international gold standard in the scientific assessment of climate change, the IPCC statement,released from its headquarters in Geneva,said.

Any such human endeavour can never be completely error-free,but IPCC assessments are as close to this goal as the international community of scientists and governments can accomplish, it said.

The fourth assessment report,which provides the scientific basis for action on climate change by governments across the world,contained erroneous conclusions about the melting of Himalayan glaciers,including one that said these would disappear by 2035 if present trends in global warming continued. Several other findings in that report are now being challenged.