UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 31 (UPI) -- The findings and recommendations of an independent review of a U.N.-backed climate report are welcome assessments, the U.N. secretary-general said.
An independent probe of a 2007 report by the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change called for reforms at the panel. The report, written by the InterAcademy Council, found the 2007 assessment gave little weight to certain aspects of global climate change.
IPCC Chairman Rajendra Pachauri called for the review after concerns were raised about findings linked to the human impact on global warming and the rate of Himalayan glacier melt.
Robbert Dijkgraaf, a co-chairman of the independent review panel, said the U.N. should enact "fundamental reforms" at the IPCC.
"The IPCC needs to strengthen its procedures to handle ever-larger and increasingly complex climate assessments as well as the more intense public scrutiny coming from a world grappling with how best to respond to climate change," the U.N. news center quoted him as saying.
U.N. Secretary Ban Ki-moon said he welcomed the findings and recommendations, adding the IPCC should take appropriate actions as soon as possible.
A statement from his spokesman, however, said the secretary-general "firmly maintains" the fundamental science regarding climate change is valid. The conclusions reached by the IPCC, he added "have been repeatedly upheld and endorsed by numerous professional review boards across the globe."
