India abandons IPCC, sets up own panel

The move is a severe blow to the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) following the revelation parts of its 3000 page 2007 report on climate science was not subjected to peer review.

A primary claim of the report was the Himalayan glaciers could disappear by 2035, but the claim was not repeated in any peer-reviewed studies and rebuffed by scientists.

India's environment minister Jairam Ramesh announced that the Indian government  will establish a separate National Institute of Himalayan Glaciology to monitor climate change in the region.

"There is a fine line between climate science and climate evangelism," Ramesh said. "I am for climate science."

Stressing that the IPCC's weakness was that it didn't do original research and derives assessments from published literature, he also announced an Indian IPCC would assess climate change through the region.

"I respect the IPCC. At the same time India is a large country... we can't depend only on IPCC. We will do our own assessment," Ramesh explained.

The first climate change assessment from this body would be brought out in November this year, he said.

The "four by four assessment" would look at four sectors -- agriculture, health, water and forests -- and four regions. These would be  Himalayan ecosystems, coastal areas, western ghats and the northeast.

The move also deals a blow India's own Dr. RK Pachauri, the current chairman of the UN's IPCC.

Pachauri has come under pressure to resign for his handling of the glacier mistake. Although he faces fierce criticism in the media, he continues to have the UN's backing.