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Ramesh Menon in New Delhi
The work done by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will have a greater bearing on the future of the human race and all living species, said Dr R K Pachauri, the newly elected chairman of the IPCC.
He was talking to newsmen soon after he returned to India from Geneva after his election for a six-year term.
Dr Pachauri said his candidature was backed not only by the United States, but by delegates from Asia, Africa, Russia and Central Asia too.
The Indian government played a stellar role in promoting his case, he said.
The Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Environment had backed him fully and in September 2001, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee cleared his nomination for the chairman's post, he said.
Dr Pachauri pointed out that he was under intense pressure to accept the co-chairmanship with Bob Watson but had chosen not to give in and contest the elections.
The United States did not put up a candidate. This led to charges that the United States was backing him as they perceived that he would be soft on them. But Pachauri dismissed these charges saying that he had been very critical of American policy in the past.
His main priority in his six-year term, he said, would be to ensure that the results of IPCC on climate control would have a greater outreach.
"The IPCC strategies formed after looking at worldwide research should reach one and all - industry, media, NGOs and most importantly, the civil society," he said.
The IPCC produces and provides scientific evidence on climate change.
Dr Pachauri said that though the United Sates was the largest contributor to the IPCC, it would in no way influence the way the organisation worked.
The IPCC must and would retain its credibility as a purely objective scientific institution, he said, without being influenced by any lobby or country.
"I am now a stateless person. I do not belong to India alone or represent only the underdeveloped world. I have to take a correct and just global view," he said.
Dr Pachauri expressed concern about the dangers of Himalayan glaciers receding and the sea level rising which would drown many islands like the Maldives. The IPCC was trying to get a grip on such issues, he said.
He said he would be forced to lay down some commitments at the Tata Energy Research Institute, where he is the director general, because of his new responsibility.
His new honorary assignment would make him spend a lot of time in Geneva and other parts of the world, he said.
ALSO SEE: Pachauri defends election as IPCC chief Indian elected chairman of world climate body
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