UNCCC Chief Yvo de Boer Supports IPCC Chief R K Pachauri

Equating Pachauri with a "tall tree which collects a lot of winds," Boer, the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change said, "he is a very respected international scientist and is leading the IPCC in a very dedicated way."

Boer answered when asked if Pachauri should resign in the wake of controversy over report on Himalayan glaciers,"I hope he does not (resign). I think that asking him to take responsibility for a single mistake which he has recognised by abandoning it from the report in question would be senseless." 

Pachauri, who is under attack from various quarters over the IPCC's 2007 report on Himalayan glaciers, has already ruled out his resignation saying that the mistake was "unfortunate" and he would go ahead to complete the Fifth IPCC Assessment Report.

Boer, however admitted that the mistake (that the Himalayan glaciers will melt by 2035) gave the skeptics an opportunity to question the science of climate change but pointed that there will always be the margins of uncertainty in science.