Wednesday 8 September 2010

Ban Ki Moon didn't heed concerns about climate panel




Re: The road to rebuilding trust in climate science, guest editorial from The Telegraph, Sept. 2

Overlooked in discussions of the problems with Rajendra Pachauri's leadership of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the fact that Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon apparently ignored serious IPCC problems even when they were repeatedly brought to his attention over a number of years.

During the UN's 2007 Bali climate conference, Moon was sent an open letter, signed by 100 leading experts, in which he was alerted to IPCC process problems. He didn't acknowledge the letter, let alone answer the concerns raised. Similarly, during the UN's 2009 Copenhagen climate conference, Moon was sent the Copenhagen Climate Challenge, signed by 166 climate experts.

In the supporting documentation, scientists told the UN chief that "the IPCC's approach to forecasting climate violated 72 principles of forecasting" and that "the claims of the IPCC and related persons with respect to sea level changes is deeply biased and not based on actual observation." The scientists' submission was confirmed to have been delivered to his office. He didn't reply.

There needs to be an investigation of why Moon let these problems fester for so many years.

In the final analysis, he is responsible for problems with any UN agency.

Tom Harris

Executive director,

International Climate Science Coalition,

Ottawa

1 comment:

Tom Harris said...

Thank you for posting my letter to the editor.

If you would like to see the scientists open letter to the Sec Gen from 2007, please go to:

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=164002

If you would like to see the open letter to the Mr. Ban from 2009, please go to:

http://www.copenhagenclimatechallenge.org/

Here is our latest effort:

The Climate Scientists' Register has been endorsed by 137 climate experts since June 2010:

tinyurl.com/2es3rqx

The Register states:

“We, the undersigned, having assessed the relevant scientific evidence, do not find convincing support for the hypothesis that human emissions of carbon dioxide are causing, or will in the foreseeable future cause, dangerous global warming."

Tom Harris
ICSC