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It has been approved that the estimation of Dutch land below sea level was overstated in a previous report by the UN Panel. There were other flaws recently published considering the melting of Himalayan glaciers.

A report published by intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2007, confirmed that less than 55 percent of Netherlands is below sea level. The previous figure included land that was above sea level but possibly prone to flooding.

However, United Nation, reaffirms these minor errors in the 2007 report of roughly 3,000 words will not influence the conclusion of the study which is that fossil fuel is causing global warming. The information of sea level was background data, which does not affect the overall findings and examinations in the report.

The UN report IPCC is the main guide that governments use to establish solid polices and projects to address global warming. There is doubt that over-reliance on some reports may be deceitful. However, the panel says that the sentence written as follows, “The Netherlands is an example of a country highly susceptible to both sea level rise and river flooding because 55 percent of its territory is below sea level.” Yet the sentence should have ended ‘because 55 percent of the Netherlands is at risk of flooding” which was not the case.

The key source for this inconsistency was the Netherland Environmental Assessment Agency. In February 2010, they announced that 26 percent of land is below sea level and as much as 29 percent is vulnerable to flooding.

IPCC confirmed that errors were widespread; the European Commission was uncertain and proposed 50% while the Dutch Ministry of Transport that proposed 60% of the country was below sea level. UN does also apologize for overstating the speed at which Himalayan glaciers were melting and that the glaciers could all be gone by 2035.

The fact remains primordial that fossil fuel is alarmingly leading to global warming. The ramifications might not be as gloomy as the report projected but unless renewable energy grows in supply, the risk is still prevalent.

Source: Reuters