[url=http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/scientists-defend-un-climate-panel-probe-20100831-1] Scientists defend UN climate panel probe[/url]
Ben Cubby
September 1 2010
The country’s leading climate researchers have endorsed the findings of an independent investigation into the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change the United Nations global warming body which found that its scientific findings were sound but that its structures needed to change and become more transparent.
The UN panel will now undergo changes similar to those already under way in Australian science bodies such as the CSIRO to help build public trust and better explain climate change.
The IPCC was subjected to sustained attack based on claims that its most recent report overstated the rate of melting glaciers in the Himalayas.
Some scientists and researchers have also criticised it for understating some risks and being too conservative in predicting the rate of global warming.
But a six-month investigation by the Inter-Academy Council which represents 15 national science academies including that of Australia answered many of the key questions.