Let us not acclerate melting of Himalayan glaciers by friction of scientists!!!

[Dr George Philip]

Dear participants,

We truly appreciate the response of Dr. John Reynolds. First and foremost let us be very clear to you that our attempt is not to demoralize anybody in person. However we are upset to see the manner in which such an important topic on glaciers has been dealt with implicitly throwing mud on each other. As we were also a collaborator in this endeavor of preparing the inventory of glaciers and glacial lakes in Uttaranchal Himalaya, India, we considered it to be responsible from our part and befitting to participate in the econference on this line of work. That does not mean that we are giving a sycophantic defence of ICIMOD. We also feel sorry that Dr. Reynolds is ignorant about our research contribution in this field despite our  research publications in peer reviewed international journals. 

Unfortunately we have not learnt anything from his comments except denigrating statements of the contribution of ICIMOD. Mool et al never claimed that the books and CDs are perfect scientific documents without any shortcomings. The contribution therefore needs to be appreciated as a base line work rather than outrightly rejecting its credibility. One needs to realize that we lack sufficient database on a terrain like HKH where none can claim to be an expert. Even while going through the response of other participants it is obvious that the subject need to be discussed in a more scientific manner acknowledging the efforts and discussing the scope and limitations. Science has always progressed through such creative criticism but not by orders. Needless to mention that we surely need deeper understanding of the glaciers in HKH region for the betterment of mankind. These are our concluding observations and we consider it to be a closed chapter from our side.  

G.Philip and M.P.Sah

Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology,

Dehradun, India