M'SIAN SCIENTIST IN 12-MEMBER COMMITTEE TO REVIEW UN CLIMATE CHANGE PANEL

KUALA LUMPUR, May 7 (Bernama) -- Science advisor to the government Prof
Emeritus Dr Zakri Abdul Hamid is among a 12-member committee appointed to review
the work of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
which has come under fire for errors in its 2007 report on global warming.

The team, comprising scientists from around the world, was assembled by the
InterAcademy Council (IAC), an association of national science academies tasked
by the United Nations to conduct an independent review of the IPCC processes and
procedures.

In a statement, the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry said
economist Harold T. Shapiro, a former Princeton University president, will chair
the committee.

The panel also includes leading scientists from South Africa, China, India,
Japan, Brazil, Mexico, Britain, Germany and the Netherlands.

"This is a very challenging task that must be carried out to restore public
confidence in climate science. It is also an honour for Malaysia to be included
in this stellar group," Dr Zakir said in the statement.



According to the IAC website, the panel will submit its findings and
recommendations to the UN by Aug 31 and in addition, it was asked to recommend
measures to strengthen IPCC's capacity to respond to future challenges and
ensure quality of its reports.

Dr Zakri is a former director of the Institute of Advanced Studies at the
United Nations University and also founded the Centre for Global Sustainability
Studies at University Science of Malaysia (USM).

He assumed his current post as the government's science advisor last March.

He is also an Emeritus Professor at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM)
(National University of Malaysia) and
chairman of the National Professorial Council.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon assigned the task to the independent panel
following several errors in the voluminous 2007 reports of the IPCC, which
shared the Nobel Peace prize that year with former United States vice-president
and environment campaigner, Al Gore.

The IPCC has come under fire when it reported, among other things, that the
Himalayan glaciers would disappear by 2035, hundreds of years earlier than
expected, and that 55 per cent of the Netherlands was below sea level when in
reality, the was figure was half of that.

-- BERNAMA



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