An error in an IPCC claim that Himalayan glaciers would melt by 2035, has put the subject of climate change into question once again. 

In light of this, the panel’s chairman, Rajendra Pachauri, says he will not resign and will continue his term as climate panel chief. 

BBC has the juice. 

The chairman of the UN's climate science body said he would not resign in the wake of a row about a mistake on glaciers that appeared in a key report.

Rajendra Pachauri told BBC News: "I am not going to stand down, I am going to stand up."

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) admitted that it had made a mistake in asserting that Himalayan glaciers could disappear by 2035.

Critics say the mistake has damaged the scientific credibility of the IPCC.

"I was re-elected by acclamation, essentially - I imagine - because everyone was satisfied with my performance on the fourth assessment report," Dr Pachauri said.

"I am now charged with producing the fifth assessment report, which I will do faithfully and to the best of my abilities."

Credibility concerns

Last week, IPCC vice-chairman Jean-Pascal van Ypersele said the panel had made a mistake in asserting that Himalayan glaciers could disappear by 2035.

The date appeared in the IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report (4AR), which read: "Glaciers in the Himalayas are receding faster than in any other part of the world... the likelihood of them disappearing by the year 2035 and perhaps sooner is very high."

A number of scientists had recently disputed the 2035 figure, after a row erupted in India late last year in the run-up to the Copenhagen climate summit, which BBC News reported on 5 December.

Opposing factions in the Indian government gave radically different opinions of what was happening to Himalayan ice.

Dr Pachauri said the inclusion of the 2035 date in the 4AR, which was published in 2007, was "a case of human error", adding that it was unfortunate that it had happened.

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