India challenges Western data linking climate change, Himalayan melt

NEW DELHI — As countries around the world prepare to flex their negotiating muscles at next month’s climate-change summit in Copenhagen, India has begun to question the Western model of computing global warming statistics.
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh released a report last week that says there is no conclusive evidence that climate change has caused the melting of the Himalayan glaciers. The report says that not all of the glaciers are receding at alarming rates and that a few are even advancing.
The report, an analysis of data from the past four decades, is part of India’s efforts to produce a body of indigenous research assessments on the subject.
“So far, we have been depending on research conducted by the West on what is happening to our glaciers and environment,” he said after releasing the report, which was prepared by a former scientist with the Geological Survey of India and included a disclaimer that it did not necessarily reflect the government’s view...

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