Meltdown The US space agency had sounded 2030 `alarm'.
One scientific
body, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), was
worse than the IPCC in predicting the death of Himalayan glaciers.
NASA, on its
website till last week, told the world that most Himalayan glaciers
would disappear by 2030. The website now states that glaciers around
the world are in poor health.
The UN's
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change had retracted its prediction
that most Himalayan glaciers would melt by 2035.
"Mountain
glaciers and snow cover have declined on average in all hemispheres,
and may disappear altogether in certain regions of the world such as
Himalayas, by 2030," the NASA webpage had said.
From where NASA
got the 2030 date is surprising.
The premier US
space agency said its wrong assertion was from the IPCC's fourth
assessment report and summary for policymakers.
HT did not find
any reference to 2030 with regard to Himalayan glaciers in the policy
document of the IPCC released in 2007. "No date of melting of
Himalayan glaciers was mentioned," said former environment secretary
Pradipto Ghosh.
The policy
document had referred to the year 2030 with regard to sea level rise
and its impact but not about Himalayan glaciers. "By 2030, beach
erosion and inundation of shoreline properties is likely to be a real
problem...," it said about India.
NASA was quick
to correct its mistake. "Glaciers are retreating almost everywhere
around the world the Alps, Himalayas, Andes, Alaska and Africa," said
the NASA website this week with reference to Himalayan glaciers.
Instead of the
IPCC, NASA referred to the findings of the World Glacier Monitoring
Service, a body of glaciologists.
