Arctic ice beats worst case predictions
The International Panel on Climate Change is conservative in the standard scientific way of not wanting to make claims that are not strictly defensible. But this runs up against the need in developing climate change policy to adopt the precautionary principle, rather than waiting until impending catastrophe is "beyond reasonable doubt" before acting. Where research produces new or quite different results, generally the area of contention will often be deleted or noted rather than discussed in detail. And the cut-off point for research is often more than a year before a report’s release. This has created deep concern amongst scientists who believe important work is not being canvassed, and IPCC report’s are out-of-date on publication day.
"CLIMATE change is shaping up to be worse than predicted by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a CSIRO scientist says. CSIRO honorary fellow Barrie Pittock, speaking yesterday at the launch of the University of Adelaide’s Research Institute for Climate Change and Sustainability, said the panel’s models had left out many factors." – 14 August 2007.