Singapore No. 1 global eco-destroyer?
from wild shores of singapore
Butterfly of the Month - May 2010
Striped Blue Crow (Euploea mulciber mulciber) from Butterflies of Singapore
Mt Faber and a New Camera
from Crystal and Bryan in Singapore
Reef Alert 2010 - Dayang-Aur
from Psychedelic Nature
Do birds sleep with their eyes closed?
from Bird Ecology Study Group
Refusing to recycle?
from The Straits Times Blogs
IPCC review: friend or foe?
from BBC NEWS blog by Richard Black
Lynda Hong Channel NewsAsia 14 May 10
SINGAPORE : NParks wants to have more orchid species along Orchard Road.
A rare Tiger Orchid seedling, which belongs to 43 critically endangered or rare species in Singapore, is being planted on a tree on Orchard Road.
The planting marks the launch of the Orchid Conservation Fund by the Garden City Fund, which received S$10,000 from TANGS department store and Clarins skincare.
The Fund aims to propagate and re-introduce rare and endangered orchid species back to Singapore.
Once home to 226 native wild orchid species, Singapore now has only 48 species left, and only five are common.
To further raise public awareness, a native orchid display, entitled Orchids: A Conservation Story, will be put up in TANGS department store.
The orchid showcase will serve as a sneak preview of the Singapore Orchid Show, to be held in conjunction with the Singapore Garden Festival in July.
- CNA/al
Orchids' road
Endangered and rare orchid species will now be protected, thanks to a new fund
tay suan chiang Straits Times Life 15 May 10;
Extinct in the wild, the Dendrobium leonis Dr Yam Tim Wing is holding will be reintroduced. -- ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN
An orchid may be Singapore's national flower - the Vanda Miss Joaquim - but in the wild, things are not so blooming great for the hybrid's relatives, the native orchids.
Of Singapore's 226 species of native wild orchids recorded locally, 178 of them are now extinct. Of those that cling on, a massive 43 species are either critically endangered or rare.
Step forward Dr Yam Tim Wing, Singapore's saviour of native orchids.
Over the last 10 years, he has been conserving the country's native orchids as part of a programme that has just been expanded to include planting more rare species in urban areas. It is even putting the 'orchid' into Orchard Road.
He has propagated and reintroduced five species of orchids that were considered critically endangered or extinct.
To help save Singapore's flowers, the National Parks Board (NParks) launched an Orchid Conservation Fund yesterday. It hopes to raise $250,000 for the purpose.
The fund aims to conserve and reintroduce rare native species onto Singapore's streets. This is part of NParks' efforts to increase the biodiversity of roadside trees and nature areas and make Singapore's roadside greenery more interesting.
Already, two organisations - Tangs department store and premium French skincare brand Clarins - have donated $5,000 each to the fund.
The public can donate, too. A donation of $50 and upwards will enable an orchid to be planted.
The fund's launch got off to a dazzling start last night: Representatives from the two companies and NParks planted a seedling of the rare tiger orchid on a yellow flame tree outside the Tangs store in Orchard Road.
This is the first time a native orchid has been reintroduced to Orchard Road.
Mr Foo Tiang Sooi, chief executive officer of Tangs, says: 'The reintroduction of rare orchids into the cityscape will not only help in the promotion of orchid conservation, but it is also a great way for the public to experience the wonders of nature on Orchard Road.'
Mr Christian Courtin-Clarins, Clarins' chairman, adds: 'By caring for and giving back to the environment, we ensure our success for generations to come.'
Dr Yam, 50, a senior researcher for orchid breeding at NParks, says: 'Native orchids have disappeared because of habitat loss.' In the past, wild orchids could be seen in mangrove areas and forests, which have made way for development.
The Hong Kong-born and now Singapore citizen has been studying orchids since 1985. He loves them because 'they are beautiful and have unique shapes'. He is no stranger to orchid conservation, having done his PhD on the topic for native orchids in Hong Kong.
The father of two teenagers came to Singapore and joined NParks in 1991 as the 'Botanic Gardens was known for its orchid programme'. Naturally, he grows orchids - hybrid ones - at home, too.
Together with his team, he sometimes still heads into forests and nature reserves and, on rare occasions, discovers native orchids thought extinct.
Dressed in a long-sleeved shirt, he takes along his binoculars, camera, plastic bags, secateurs, and food and water.
He photographs the orchids he finds and takes part of the plants back to the nursery to wait for them to flower so he can confirm the species. It can be a sweaty affair being in the forest. 'I come out drenched. But it is worth it when I see a rare orchid,' he says.
Some native orchids bloom only a few times a year while others, such as the tiger orchid, bloom only once a year.
The Botanic Gardens has some native orchids in its nursery that Dr Yam uses for propagation. For rare orchids that are not available, such as the tiger orchid, he buys them from overseas nurseries.
'Depending on the species, it can cost about $10 a plant to about $100,' he says.
The orchids bear fruit, and their seeds are collected to germinate in a laboratory. They are later grown on fern bark till they are big enough to be planted on trees.
It takes about a month to grow about 2,000 orchids. Using a crane to reach the higher branches of a tree, Dr Yam attaches an orchid to the branch. 'The orchid roots will grow and cling onto the branch,' he says. He returns to check on the orchids every week for the first two weeks, and then once every two months.
He has reintroduced 3,000 plants of five native species over the last 10 years. More than 80 per cent of these planted on trees in parks and nature areas have survived. In time, they will self-propagate.
He now wants to reintroduce at least two species each year over the next three years. They will be planted in locations such as parks and nature areas, and also along Napier and Holland roads, and the East Coast Park Expressway.
'More people can enjoy the beauty of these orchids,' he says.
Orchid's name is for life
What do Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, Queen Elizabeth II and actor Jackie Chan have in common? They all have orchids named after them.
Singer Stephanie Sun is the first Singaporean celebrity to have an orchid, Dendrobium Stefanie Sun (above), named after her.
Last Saturday, Bocelli became the latest celebrity to have an orchid given his monicker in the Singapore Botanic Gardens' collection. The Vanda Andrea Bocelli has flowers that are purplish pink with purple spots.
The first VIP orchid here was the Aranthera Anne Black, after the wife of the first governor of Singapore, Sir Robert Black, in 1956.
Since then, Singapore has named more than 100 VIP orchid hybrids, including over 60 for visiting heads of state, such as Jordan's King Abdullah II and Myanmar's Premier Thein Sein. These are placed in a VIP Orchid Garden in the National Orchid Garden, located within the Singapore Botanic Gardens.
The Orchid Garden also has celebrity orchids, including those named after Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan and Korean actor Bae Yong Jun.
A spokesman for the National Parks Boards, which manages the Singapore Botanic Gardens, says: 'Orchid-naming is a way to welcome important guests to Singapore. They are usually people who have made significant contributions in their fields.'
He adds: 'Orchids selected for orchid- naming are new hybrids that are the result oftheGardens' orchid-breeding programme.'
But for $3,000 and up, the public can have orchids named after it too. Madam Lee Soong Ying, a project consultant at Orchidville orchid farm, says: 'Some name orchids as gifts or in remembrance of a loved one. A man named one after his fiancee as he wanted to propose to her.'
The farm picks the hybrids for naming and the customer chooses the final plant. The proposed name is then sent to the Royal Horticulture Society in London for approval.
Madam Lee says the society is regarded as the international orchid registrar. Once a name is approved, it will go down into the society's records for life. 'The name of the orchid will be around for eternity,' she says.
Tay Suan Chiang
NEW LEASE OF LIFE FOR TIGER ORCHIDS ON ORCHARD ROAD
NParks media release 14 May 10
Singapore, 14 May 2010 - The spectacular sight of the world's largest orchid plant - the tiger orchid - in full bloom on Orchard Road might not be too far away if the organisers of the Singapore Garden Festival (SGF), as well as the European leader in premium skincare house Clarins and TANGS store can help it. This evening, Clarins' Chairman, Christian Courtin-Clarins and TANGS CEO, Foo Tiang Sooi, together with Director of the SGF, Dr Wong Wei Har, planted a tiger orchid plant (Grammatophyllum speciosum) on a yellow flame tree just outside the TANGS store along bustling Orchard Road.
The tiger orchid, together with most of the other 226 orchid species that are native to Singapore, have become extinct, mainly due to habitat loss. For the past 10 years, NParks has been painstakingly working on an orchid conservation and reintroduction programme. This initiative is aimed at propagating and re-introducing native orchid species into natural, semi-natural, and urban environments. We have witnessed substantial results. When the programme first started, some 3000 plants of five native species were planted, with a modest number of seedlings planted each year. More than 80% of the orchids planted on trees in parks and nature areas have survived. In time, these orchids will self propagate.
The tiger orchid was chosen to be the first native orchid to be re-introduced to Orchard Road because it is a spectacular species, the largest orchid plant in the world and is already extinct in the wild in Singapore.
Launch of Orchid Conservation Fund
Today's tiger orchid planting on Orchard Road also marked the launch of the Orchid Conservation Fund, introduced by the Garden City Fund (GCF), NParks' registered charity and IPC. GCF was launched in 2003 by the then Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to support the growth and development of Singapore's Garden City. Donations to this fund for orchid conservation will be used to propagate and reintroduce our rare and endangered Orchid species back into the streets, parks and nature areas.
A donation of $50 onwards will enable an orchid to be planted. Clarins and Tangs have contributed $5,000 each to help the Orchid Conservation Fund get off to a blooming start. The Fund aims to raise some $250,000 that will be used to support a few key activities: monitoring existing orchid species, exploring ways to conserve them, increasing their numbers through subsequent re-introduction into appropriate habitats, research and education. From the start of 2010, NParks is reintroducing two new native species every year over the next three years. They will be planted at locations with the right environmental conditions where people can see and appreciate their beauty. These areas will include parks and nature areas and even along tourist corridors like Napier Road, Holland Road and the East Coast Park Expressway near the budget terminal.
Members of the public can also grow their own native orchids at home by buying the plants from some local nurseries. A public talk on how to grow these will be conducted by NParks at HortPark on Sat, 15 May, 3-5pm. Those interested in finding out more can email NParks_Mailbox@NParks.gov.sg.
Dr Wong Wei Har, Festival Director, said: "I would like to thank our partners, Clarins and TANGS for their support of the Singapore Garden Festival, and for their help in putting together this beautiful orchid display around TANGS Orchard, which provides shoppers with a sneak preview of the Singapore Orchid Show segment at July�s Singapore Garden Festival. Orchids are a big part of our national heritage. The launch of the Orchid Conservation Fund goes a long way in allowing us to take the necessary steps to conserve native species of orchids, and to provide us with the opportunity to introduce more species of orchids into the Singapore Cityscape, like the tiger orchid that we planted today outside TANGS Orchard."
"Fully aware that it owes everything to Nature, Clarins has always been committed to protecting the planet's natural resources. Reflecting our core values of listening and respect that naturally contributed to the adoption of a line of conduct, we are committed to the goal of sustainable development. Through this commitment, Clarins highlights its goal of promoting a sense of responsibility among all employees and developing innovative solutions to assure the sustainable development of the Company in a manner that is respectful of mankind, nature and love of life. At Clarins, we know that everything is linked, and by caring for and giving back to the environment, we ensure our success for generations to come. With this, we are proud to be the first organisation to support the Garden City Fund's Orchid Conservation Fund, an important initiative to help the survival of our native orchids," says Christian Courtin-Clarins, Clarins' Chairman.
"We are truly delighted to join NParks and Clarins in their efforts at orchid conservation. As a company with nearly 80 years of history, we understand the importance of preserving our heritage for generations to come. The reintroduction of rare orchids into the cityscape will not only help in the promotion of orchid conservation, but is a great way for the public to experience the wonders of nature in the very heart of Orchard Road." says Mr Foo Tiang Sooi, CEO of TANGS.
Orchid Display at TANGS Orchard and Singapore Garden Festival
For those who cannot wait for the tiger orchids to bloom and are eager to catch a glimpse of more native orchids, Singapore Garden Festival, Clarins and TANGS Orchard have put up a display entitled Orchids: A Conservation Story in the department store to raise public awareness about native orchids and conservation avenues. These native orchids, along with many others, will also be showcased at the Singapore Orchid Show, held in conjunction with the Singapore Garden Festival later in July.
The Singapore Garden Festival, Asia's best flower and garden show, will return to Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre from 15 to 22 July 2010. The Festival is the only one in the world to bring together top award-winning garden and floral designers from around the world, under one roof. For more information, please visit www.singaporegardenfestival.com.
Jakarta Post 15 May 10;
Activists from environmental group Greenpeace have said that three ministers told them the government would stop issuing new permits to convert peatland.
Greenpeace made the announcement after speaking with Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan and Agriculture Minister Suswono in separate closed-door meetings earlier this week.
"Both have promised to halt new permits for peatland conversion, including in areas that are less than three meters deep," Joko Arif, a Greenpeace forest campaigner, told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
"We hope Environment Minister Gusti Muhammad Hatta will follow through on the issue of *producing a* regulation to protect peatland."
A current draft of a government regulation says peatlands less than three meters deep can be converted to become any of 10 possibilities, including, plantations, fish farms, residential areas or mining or transmigration areas.
An existing decree issued by the Agriculture Ministry applies a total ban on the conversion of peatlands more than three meters deep.
Director general of forest production development at the Forestry Ministry Hadi Daryanto confirmed Greenpeace's claim.
"Minister Zulkifli will temporarily stop issuing new permits for the use of peatland, including for plantations and industrial forest," Hadi told the Post.
"Permits will only be issued for ecosystem restoration projects. But we will analyze the companies' profile to ensure the projects really aim to restore ecosystems in peatland."
However, Hadi said that companies that had already been issued with permits to convert peatland would not be affected by the new rule.
Greenpeace in its statement said that the promise to protect peatland should be kept, and cited the case of one destroyed area of peatland in Kampar Semenanjung in Riau.
"This intention *to protect peatlands* must be realized, as companies continue to clear and drain peatland like in Kampar Semenanjung," Arief said.
An independent team of experts formed by the Forestry Ministry reported that a canal built in Kampar Semenanjung by pulp and paper producer PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper to manage water levels near its factory had damaged a large area of peatland.
Indonesia has around 21 million hectares of peatland. Papua has 8 million hectares of peatland, Sumatra has 7.2 million hectares and Kalimantan has 5.8 million hectares.
With climate change now a serious topic worldwide, talks have stepped up to impose a moratorium on the conversion of peatland in Indonesia.
Masnellyarti Hilman, deputy minister for environmental damage control at the Environment Ministry said that her office was ready to revise the draft to totally ban peatland conversion.
Greenpeace has long called for a moratorium on peatland conversion to meet the government's target to cut greenhouse emissions by 26 percent by 2020.
- JP/Adianto P. Simamora
Adianto P. Simamora Jakarta Post 15 May 10;
The high rate of pollution in the sea has sparked algal blooms, which can pose a serious threat to the country's fishery sector amid the government's plan to boost fishery production, a seminar heard Friday.
The Indonesian Maritime Council warned algal blooms, also known as the red tide, could grow to an uncontrollable rate if there was no improvement in watershed management to minimize the influx of pollutants into the sea.
"The red tide may hamper the government's target to produce up to 350 million tons of fishery products per year since about 70 percent of the target would be from marine culture," the council's secretary, Rizal Max Rompas told a seminar Friday.
The pollutants from land agriculture, industries and domestic waste into the sea through the rivers can increase nutrients that will feed the rapid proliferation of the harmful algae, he said.
The red tide could reduce oxygen and increase toxins that would threaten the massive death of marine biota such as fish.
Pollutants will also worsen the quality of sea water that can disturb the population of marine organisms.
Red tides can be seen with the rapid change of sea water colors including red, green and brown.
Rizal said that a number of red tide cases were found in Indonesian waters since the 1980s, causing the death of many fish.
He said that Jakarta Bay suffered red tides at least five times in 1992, 1994, 1997, 2005 and 2006, marked prominently by a sea of floating dead fish.
"The red tides also hit Ambon Bay in 1997 and the Cirebon-Indramayu waters in 2007. It also hit the eastern part of Bali coastal areas four times and East Nusa Tenggara water three times," he said.
The incidents both in Ambon and East Nusa Tenggara reportedly caused the death of 15 people after they consumed fish contaminated with the toxin. "Red tides will cause economic loss. It will cause the harvest failure of shrimp and fish, and impact on the country's tourism sector," he said.
Indonesia has about 7.9 million square kilometers of sea, with a coastline of around 108,000 kilometers.
Director general of spatial planning at the Public Works Ministry Imam Ernawi said that integrated management of watershed from upstream to downstream areas could reduce the phenomena of red tides in Indonesia.
He said the use of chemical fertilizers for agriculture could also lead to the blooming of algae in the sea and coastal areas.
"To anticipate red tides, the government should manage the allocation of protected forest in upstream and coastal areas to maintain the quality and quantity of water," he told the seminar.
A senior official from the agency for assessment and application of technology (BPPT), Jana Anggadiredja, said that an early warning system using buoy technology and remote sensing could be used to mitigate the algal blooming.
A marine expert from the University of Japan, Yasowo Fukuyo, said satellite technology could be powerful in detecting the movement of red algae, including in Indonesian seas. He said that it could detect red tides in the area of less than 10 kilometers to 1,000 square kilometers.
He predicted that the red tide cases could be far larger in Indonesia than Japan due to its huge water area.
"We record some 200 red tides a year in Japan, I suspect red tide cases are much bigger in Indonesia," he said.
Jana said most red tide occurrences were harmful.
Yahoo News 14 May 10;
TOKYO (AFP) – Environmentalists voiced their opposition Friday to a Japanese government plan to relocate a US military airbase to a coastal area of Okinawa island, saying it would destroy a fragile marine ecosystem.
A coalition of groups including the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Greenpeace said the waters off Henoko boast coral reefs and seagrass and are home to the sea mammal the dugong and other rare species.
"We demand that the government give up the construction plan for a new base which would destroy the biodiversity of the rich ocean," said the coalition of more than 60 groups, also including the Japan-US Citizens for Okinawa Network.
Japan's government is searching for a solution to a long-running dispute over the controversial US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, which is locally unpopular, mainly because of noise, pollution and the risk of accidents.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama last week backtracked on an election pledge to move the base off Okinawa and instead agreed to honour an earlier pact with Washington to move the base from a city area of Okinawa to Henoko.
His government has reportedly suggested that the new offshore runways be built on pylons rather than landfill, but the groups said this would still damage the environment by blocking sunlight and changing sea currents.
Okinawa University president Kunitoshi Sakurai, an environmental studies professor, represented the grouping and relayed its views in a meeting Friday with Kinya Takino, the deputy chief cabinet secretary.
Ben Simon Fri Yahoo News 14 May 10;
ENTEBBE, Uganda (AFP) – Four African countries on Friday signed a new treaty on the equitable sharing of the Nile waters despite strong opposition from Egypt and Sudan who have the lion's share of the river waters.
Rwanda, Ethiopia, Uganda and Tanzania signed the new framework while Kenya issued a support statement, an AFP correspondent reported.
Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo were not represented at the meeting in the Ugandan town of Entebbe.
"This agreement benefits all of us and harms none of us," Ethiopia's Water Resources Minister Asfaw Dingamo said. "I strongly believe all Nile Basin countries will sign the agreement."
The upstream countries want to be able to implement irrigation and hydropower projects in consultation with Egypt and Sudan, but without Egypt being able to exercise the veto power it was given by a 1929 colonial-era treaty with Britain.
"We regret the intentional and announced absence of our dear brothers from Egypt and Sudan," said Stanislas Kamanzi, Rwanda's water and lands minister.
Kenya's ambassador to Uganda, Geoffrey Okanga, said his country's water minister "signalled to me her readiness to sign this agreement as soon as possible because the Kenyan position on this matter has not changed..."
The new agreement, the Nile Basin Cooperative Framework, is to replace a 1959 accord between Egypt and Sudan that gives them control of more than 90 percent of the water flow.
The two countries have expressed fears that their water supply would be severely reduced if the seven other Nile users divert the river with domestic irrigation and hydropower projects.
Asfaw said the "Nile is a resource for all countries. Not a resource for some or limited countries" and ruled out the possibility of conflict.
"I don't think we are going to declare a water war because if you manage it properly..., the Nile is enough for the riparian countries and the only problem we were getting up to now is this resource was not being managed as it should be," he said.
Unlike the 1959 accord which allocated Egypt 55.5 billion cubic metres of the Nile and 18.5 billion to Sudan, the new agreement allows countries to use the waters as they please provided they do not harm others.
The 6,700-kilometre Nile is a confluence of the White Nile, whose source is Lake Victoria in east Africa, and the Blue Nile that springs from the Ethiopian highlands.
The two Niles join in the Sudanese capital Khartoum and flow down through Egypt into the Mediterranean Sea in a huge delta.
The Nile Basin Initiative, which had been spearheading the talks, will now become the Nile Basin Commission and will receive, review and approve or reject projects related to Africa's longest river.
It will be based in Addis Ababa and have representation from all nine Nile basin countries.
Egypt's State Minister for Legal Affairs Mufid Shehab said the new agreement was a mistake.
"We do not want to view it as a destructive act, but we view it as a mistaken action and we should stop it," state media quoted Shehab as saying late Thursday.
"We never hoped this would happen because it completely goes beyond the framework of cooperation."
Also Thursday, a senior EU envoy urged seven east African countries not to sign the new deal and to settle differences with Egypt and Sudan first.
Marc Franco, who heads the European Union delegation in Egypt, said a separate deal would "make the political problems that exist worse."
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit warned at the weekend that Cairo's water rights were a "red line" and threatened legal action if a partial deal is reached.
Arthur Max (Associated Press) Google News 14 May 10;
AMSTERDAM — The head of the U.N. scientific body on climate change defended Friday the work of the thousands of scientists who contribute to its reports, even as he welcomed a review of procedures that produced errors undermining the panel's public credibility.
The chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Rajendra Pachauri, cautioned an independent scientific committee reviewing the IPCC's work not to undermine scientists' motivation for contributing to reports on global warming.
The voluminous reports of the scientific panel are credited with raising the alarm that human emissions of greenhouse gases already have led to a gradual warming of the globe, and if unchecked could lead to catastrophic changes in weather patterns, rising sea levels and the extinction of about one-third of the species on Earth. The IPCC shared the 2007 Nobel Peace prize with former Vice President Al Gore.
But its reports have been dismissed by climate skeptics who attribute global warming to natural cycles. The skeptics were bolstered by a series of errors in the IPCC's 2007 report.
Pachauri told the committee's first review meeting that the panel's conclusions are valid, even in areas where mistakes were discovered.
Pointing to the most glaring error, a claim that the world's glaciers will melt by 2035, Pachauri said glaciers are indeed melting, though not that fast. Nonetheless, glacial melt accounts for 28 percent of sea level rise, and the panel's assessment on glaciers contains "a lot of facts which we can ignore at our peril."
Pachauri said the panel is comprised of volunteer scientists contributing several years of their own time and who disband after issuing their report. The panel has no mechanism for responding to criticism once the reports are issued, other than the small secretariat.
"We need to develop an ability and a capacity to communicate better with the outside world," he told the 15 top scientists from around the world summoned to sit on the review committee..
Pachauri acknowledged the response to the errors was inadequate, but said the attack on the panel was unprecedented.
He said the panel's procedures already are robust, but he welcomed any suggestion that would improve accuracy.
The review is expected to take several weeks before it issues recommendations on how to tighten the IPCC procedures.
IPCC's Pachauri says climate body must 'listen and learn'
Richard Black, BBC News 14 May 10;
The head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has said the organisation needs to learn from recent criticisms and modernise its workings.
But despite making an error over Himalayan glacier melt in its landmark 2007 report, the panel's basic conclusions remain sound, he said.
Rajendra Pachauri was speaking at the opening session of a UN-commissioned review into the IPCC's workings.
The review is due to hear from some of the IPCC's critics in coming months.
Dr Pachauri admitted his organisation had been ill-prepared and ill-resourced to deal with the recent criticism it has received.
"We have to listen and learn all the time and evolve in a manner that meets the needs of society across the world," Dr Pachauri told the review panel.
While the IPCC admits to including an erroneous date by which Himalayan glaciers might disappear in its 2007 Fourth Assessment report, Dr Pachauri said: "We have not been effective at telling the public, 'yes, we made a mistake but that does not change the fact that the glaciers are melting'."
And he rebutted accusations made in some newspapers and websites that the IPCC's intentions have been other than honest.
"I'm afraid these allegations of corruption and malfeasance are completely misplaced and distorted," he told BBC News.
"But we have to make sure we do our best and live up to the expectations of the public and of governments, which are basically our masters."
Friends and foes
Back in February, the IPCC suggested setting up an independent review, feeling that its 20-year-old rules and working practices perhaps needed an overhaul, and also feeling it was perhaps ill-equipped to counter the heat of unprecedented political attention in the wake of "Himalayagate" and the release of emails stolen from the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit.
Governments endorsed the idea; and in March, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon commissioned the review from the InterAcademy Council, an international umbrella body for science academies such as the UK's Royal Society.
The council established a 12-strong review panel, chaired by US economist Professor Harold Shapiro, a former advisor to both Presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton.
"We're neither friend nor foe," he told BBC News.
"We're a neutral body; most of us have never participated in the IPCC, but all of us have been part of organisations where quality control is an issue; and we have experience in dealing with that, and we hope that experience can help the IPCC."
After Dr Pachauri's presentation, the panel heard from senior UN figures including Janos Pasztor, director of Mr Ban's climate change support team.
"Nothing that has been alleged in recent press reports or from hacked emails has altered the consensus on climate change," he said.
"However, as the IPCC embarks on its fifth assessment report, it's important that… the potential for future errors is minimised."
One of the areas in which the IPCC has come in for criticism concerns its use of data from non-peer-reviewed sources such as the WWF report in which originated the erroneous Himalayan melting date of 2035.
But Dr Pachauri said the organisation had to use such sources - sometimes they were all that was available. It was just that on this occasion, its strict procedures had not been followed.
"The media and several other people have completely misunderstood the need for using non peer-reviewed literature," he said.
"The loose term that's used is 'grey literature' as though this is grey muddied water flowing down the drains.
"But I'd like to highlight what non-peer-reviewed literature constitutes: reports from the International Energy Agency, the OECD, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank... and some NGOs - there are some highly prestigious NGOS that are doing detailed academic work, and you cannot ignore this."
Thought sought
Professor Shapiro said that in due course, the review panel would hear more critical testimony.
"We will not have time to hear from every critic of the IPCC," he said.
"But we will try to put together some public sessions of those who are I would say 'thoughtful critics' - very very respectable and highly thought of scientists with criticisms of the organisation - we definitely want to hear that."
In addition, the panel's website invites comments from anyone.
The panel, which comprises eminent scientists and economists from both the developed and developing worlds including Nobel prize-winning ozone chemist Mario Molina, has until the end of August to prepare its report.
Its conclusions will be peer-reviewed before being presented at the IPCC's October meeting, the point at which Dr Pachauri and his team are due to finalise plans for the fifth assessment report, due in 2013.
UN climate panel chief defends research at review
Yahoo News 14 May 10;
THE HAGUE (AFP) – The head of the United Nations' climate change panel defended the body Friday before an academic council charged with reviewing its research methods after a string of challenges to its findings.
Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), admitted an error was made in warning that Himalayan glaciers could melt by 2035, but said there was nevertheless some value in the finding.
"Alright, there was this error, but there is a whole lot of valid information and assessment related to the glaciers which we can only ignore at our own peril and the peril of generations yet to come," he told a public meeting in Amsterdam of the InterAcademy Council (IAC), webcast live.
"Even if the Himalayan glaciers do not melt (by 2035), this is what is happening to the glaciers around the world."
Melting glaciers, said Pachauri, have "already contributed around 28 percent of sea level rise since 1993.... This is something that should cause concern."
The IPCC, made up of several thousand scientists tasked with vetting scientific knowledge on climate change, has come under fire from several quarters over its 2007 report.
Its reputation was damaged by its warning over melting Himalayan glaciers, a claim that has been widely discredited and fuelled scepticism about climate change.
More recently, it has been criticised for a finding that a one-metre (three-foot) rise in sea levels would flood 17 percent of Bangladesh and create 20 million refugees by 2050.
Critics said this ignored the role of at least one billion tonnes of sediment carried by rivers into Bangladesh every year in countering sea level rises.
But Pachauri ascribed the silt argument to "non-peer reviewed research".
"You really can't take one single study like that into account," he told the review panel.
"There are several questions that have to be answered: will that level of siltation we see today continue in the future? Is that silt strong enough to withstand the threat of sea level rise?"
The IAC, which groups presidents of 15 leading science academies, has been tasked with an independent probe of the IPCC's procedures and processes.
"Ever since this problem cropped up with the Himalayan glacier, my colleagues and I in the IPCC have gone to great lengths to see how at every state of the fifth (next) assessment report writing process we bring in these checks and balances," said Pachauri, welcoming the IAC review.
"We are going to do everything humanly possible but we would be grateful for any suggestions that come out for implementation by which we try and make this as foolproof as is humanly possible."
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