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Contact
Jim: jdipeso@rep.org
(253) 740-2066 / 2011
Archive / 2010
Archive
Shaping Up the IPCC for
Unrelenting Scrutiny
September 1, 2010
A
review
panel commissioned by the world’s science academies has taken
a
hard look at how the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
goes about assessing and reporting on what is known about climate
change and how it might affect human society.
The review was spawned by controversy - some legitimate, some
manufactured – that raised questions about the IPCC’s credibility and
its capacity to publish sound information about climate change and its
implications.
An avoidable boner in the latest IPCC assessment about the effect of
climate change on Himalayan glaciers crystallized a meme that the
IPCC needs to be go on the rack for extensive repairs.
The review panel’s report was filled with strongly worded
recommendations for tightening up management, clarifying how
uncertainty is communicated, being more cautious about backing up
projections with evidence, and improving transparency. It also makes
clear, however, that the IPCC "has been successful overall and has
served society
well."
The review panel said the process improvements would strengthen IPCC
for handling the unrelenting scrutiny that has grown along with the
political stakes of climate policy and fierce pressure from the climate
denial lobby, which spares no effort to sow confusion and spread
falsehoods.
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