The UN climate change panel IPCC not only wrongly predicted Himalayan glaciers would disappear by 2035, it also put more than half of the Netherlands below sea level. The Dutch environment minister, Jaqueline Cramer, on Wednesday demanded a thorough investigation into the 2007 report by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change after a Dutch magazine uncovered it incorrectly states 55 percent of the country lies below sea level. The the Dutch national bureau for environmental analysis has taken responsibility for the incorrect figure cited by the IPCC. Only 26 percent of the Netherlands is really below sea level.
Reading the full story, it does indeed appear as if some carelessly drafted wording submitted by the Dutch environmental-assessment agency is to blame rather than the IPCC. That can happen, and, no, this latest error does not discredit the theoretical basis for AGW, but British blogger Mr. Eugenides correctly identifies the real issue:
Now, anyone can make a simple blooper like this, even if it’s the sort of howler you would expect any Dutch schoolboy to spot. No, my question is this: did anyone in the Dutch government actually read the ******* [adjective dutifully Bowdlerized] report before signing the Netherlands up to slashing their carbon emissions?
Hmmm. Good question. My guess is that the Dutch politicians took it on trust. Or should that be faith?