OPINION:
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is ultimately responsible for serious problems inside the U.N. “Global warming report feels the heat,” Comment & Analysis, Aug. 31). Yet Mr. Ban has received no criticism for the years of obvious corruption and bias in the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Instead, IPCC Chairman Rajendra Pachauri has taken all the heat.
One might forgive Mr. Ban for his failure to oversee this organization - only one of dozens of U.N. agencies - if he had not been told over and over about the IPCC’s problems. However, he was told by many people.
During the 2007 U.N. Bali climate conference, he was sent an open letter signed by 100 leading experts in the field in which he was alerted to IPCC process problems. Mr. Ban did not even acknowledge the letter, let alone answer the concerns raised.
During the U.N.’s 2009 Copenhagen climate conference, Mr. Ban was sent “The Copenhagen Climate Challenge,” signed by 166 climate experts. In the supporting documentation, scientists told the U.N. chief “the IPCC’s approach to forecasting climate violated 72 principles of forecasting” and “The claims of the IPCC and related persons with respect to sea-level changes are deeply biased and not based on actual observation.” The scientists’ submission was tracked and confirmed as being delivered to his office, but Mr. Ban never responded.
There needs to be an investigation of why the U.N. secretary-general allowed serious problems inside a crucially important U.N. agency to fester for so many years.
TOM HARRIS
Executive director
International Climate Science Coalition (ICSC)
Ottawa
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