Jairam Ramesh's Allegation - Climate Scientists Have Political Agenda - Absurd, Dangerous

June 10, 2011 - PRLog -- Jairam Ramesh, union minister for environment and forests said on Wednesday that "Science is politics in climate change [...] Western climate scientists have less of a scientific agenda and more of a political agenda."

He made the controversial statement while addressing scientists at Space Application Centre in Ahmedabad implying that scientific studies published in the West exaggerate climate impacts to drive political interests of developed countries over developing ones.

Climate Revolution strongly condemns minister's allegation which once again shows that the government remains in denial of the dire consequences of climate change predicted by numerous international scientific reviews and studies.

Manu Sharma, founder of Climate Revolution campaign said, "I was incensed when I read the statement. If our environment minister still doesn't believe in the huge accumulated body of international climate research, how can he be expected to save us from the effects they predict?"

Numerous assessments of climate science

While Jairam Ramesh likes to flog the IPCC for its mistake over the date of Himalayan Glacial melt, which the panel later retracted, he fails to recognise that the IPCC did not manufacture the research, it only collated existing research and that Himalayan glacial melt is only one of the several serious consequences of climate change which include: increased frequency and severity of droughts, floods and flash floods, cyclones and super cyclones; oceans that are acidifying; rising sea level that threaten vast coastal populations; decreasing agricultural productivity that will trigger farmer suicides and food riots on a scale we haven't seen before; and massive population displacement that will happen as a result of all of above.

Ramesh also ignores the fact that IPCC is not the only international scientific authority that has assessed climate research. Over the last few years there have been dozens of comprehensive scientific assessments and studies that reveal the urgency to act on climate change -- far too many to name.


Independent agencies

The studies outlined above are not from a single source but from multiple independent institutions and universities. There are hundreds of agencies with thousands of scientists that are engaged in climate research around the world. Although many of these institutions and universities often collaborate with each other, yet it defies logic and reason that research by such wide and disparate groups could be driven by political interests of their corresponding nations.


Scientists themselves victim

For Ramesh's theory about scientists to be true, they must benefit from their pronouncements of exaggerated findings. However, the truth is, leading climate scientists have faced a lot of criticism including even death threats from individuals and special interests groups that do not favour their findings.

Just last week, it was reported that Australia’s leading climate change scientists are "being targeted by a vicious, unrelenting email campaign that has resulted in police investigations of death threats." In the run up to Copenhagen and thereafter, a smear campaign was unleashed by climate denialists and skeptics on several notable scientists and heads of institutions of repute.


Science has no boundaries

Most often the findings and conclusions of climate studies are politically unpalatable within their respective countries. In the United States for example, there has been consistent refusal to accept climate science from Republicans over the last year and a half.

At a time when the United States is struggling to legislate climate laws domestically and faltering on its international commitments, it does not help the government politically when their National Academy of Sciences calls it to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Yet the NAS has been doing precisely that for the past one year. When scientific findings are inconvenient to themselves, it makes little sense to argue that the science is being driven by their political interests internationally. After all, the laws of physics and chemistry do not recognise national boundaries.


No evidence linking politics with climate science

There is no evidence in the public domain which suggests that there is a conspiracy among the developed nations to influence climate science in order to support their political agenda with the developing countries. For the theory to be plausible, countless number of scientists, editors and publishers would have to conspire with the ruling political class in an unprecedented effort.

Since such seamless coordination is not always possible on such a large scale, there would have to be notable cases of suppression of genuine authentic research that does not go well with the aims of such a conspiracy. Yet no such record can be easily found.

In fact there's plenty of evidence of conspiracies in which climate denialists and skeptics, whom the minister has defended in the past, are paid for by fossil fuel interests which do not want global warming legislation. Oil companies such as Exxon Mobil are widely known to have actively funded such individuals and organisations.

In March last year, environment minister Jairam Ramesh wrote to the council that was reviewing IPCC procedures suggesting that contrary scientific opinion on the conclusions of IPCC must be included in IPCC reports. He also suggested that the panel's draft reports should be sent to all known “climate sceptics” during the review process.

In a media interview later last year Ramesh defended Bjørn Lomborg, a well-known climate skeptic who has been widely debunked.


Denial of climate science dangerous

At Climate Revolution, we have previously reported through RTI disclosures that no mechanism exists within environment ministry and PMO for climate science to inform policy decisions. This evident denial of climate science has grave implication for the country's future as it remains unprepared to meet the consequences of climate change.

The destruction caused by flash floods in Leh and Uttarakhand regions last year, for example -- that killed around 200 people -- could have been minimised or averted had their respective state governments put in place warning systems to alert citizens of impending disasters which are inline with predictions of the IPCC report.

RTI replies submitted by environment ministry show they never issued any advisory or note of warning to state governments or the public regarding extreme weather events or climate anomalies even almost three years after publication of the IPCC's 4th Assessment report.


Fresh RTI on Ramesh's Comment

We are filing a fresh RTI query with the ministry of environment to seek:

a) Copy of all emails received and sent by the minister on his official email account from the date of taking office till present day.

b) Any ministry record that provide a basis for Minister's allegation that "western climate scientists have political agenda."

The minister's emails will be scrutinised for evidence of a grand international conspiracy spanning across multiple continents and thousands of scientific institutions that may have been the basis for his statement.

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Climate Revolution Initiative is a public awareness campaign that seeks to transform the social and political climate on climate change in India. It uses Right to Information (RTI) act and media disclosures as key tools to bring about shift in public consciousness about the threat of climate change and about government's unsustainable developmental pathway. Climate Revolution Initiative is led by Manu Sharma, an activist and renewable energy expert.