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"Key conclusions of the IPCC report are undeniable"

Wednesday, 14 July 2010 15:53

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Certain information was already known to be erroneous, which the PBL report confirms. For example, the year in which the Himalayan glaciers were believed to disappear was proven incorrect, as was the percentage of land below sea level in the Netherlands. Additionally, PBL revealed an error relating to the effects of turbulence in African waters on the productivity of fisheries. IPCC will correct all three errors in an erratum. PBL concluded that these mistakes do not detract from the key conclusions of the scientific UN climate panel of 2007. In her response, Minister Huizinga states, "The key conclusions of the IPCC report are correct. The impending rise in the Earth's temperature is unfortunately a state of fact. The underlying assumptions of the National Water Plan (Nationaal Waterplan) and the Delta Programme (Deltaprogramma) are irrefutable. If we want to keep the effects of climate change under control and keep the Netherlands safe for the coming decades, we will have to take action and invest money now."

It is very important to Minister Huizinga that every effort be made in the future to prevent misinformation in subsequent IPCC reports. According to Minister Huizinga, "It is in the interest of both the climate debate and the IPCC's credibility that that agency's working methods and quality control be improved. The recommendations offered in the PBL report can play a valuable role in that effort." In Minister Huizinga's letter to the Lower House of the Dutch Parliament she states that the PBL report will definitely play an important part in determining the Netherlands' input in the IPCC meeting this autumn.

At the orders of the Minister of VROM, PBL has investigated the reliability of the research methods employed in the country studies in the regional chapters, as well as looking at the degree to which the two statements that have already been established as incorrect and the new findings have implications for the key conclusions of the IPCC's fourth climate report. The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) served as the independent supervisory authority regarding the quality of the PBL analysis and approved the work carried out by PBL for this study.

Source: VROM