July 9, 2008
Climate Science and National Interests
The Indian government has put out a climate change action plan (PDF) that places economic development and adaptation ahead of mitigation (sound familiar?). The report was endorsed by IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri:
[Pachauri] said that India has realised the climate change threat. India’s climate change action plan recently released by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is a “good policy document” and needs to be implemented.
Interesting, the report’s views of climate science are at odds with that presented by the IPCC.
The Indian climate change action plan states of observed climate changes in India (p. 15):
No firm link between the documented [climate] changes described below and warming due to anthropogenic climate change has yet been established.
For example, the Indian report states of the melting of Himalayan glaciers (p. 15):
The available monitoring data on Himalayan glaciers indicates while some recession of glaciers has occurred in some Himalayan regions in recent years, the trend is not consistent across the entire mountain chain. It is accordingly, too early to establish long-term trends or their causation, in respect of which there are several hypotheses.
By contrast, the IPCC (WG II Ch. 10 p. 493)says of Himalayan glacier melt:
The receding and thinning of Himalayan glaciers can be
attributed primarily to the global warming due to increase in
anthropogenic emission of greenhouse gases.
Imagine the reaction if the U.S. (or British or German or Australian . . .) government put out a report placing economic growth ahead of mitigation while contradicting the science of the IPCC. Dr. Pachauri’s endorsement of a report that contradicts the IPCC indicates that issues of science and national interests are apparently universal.