UN science chief defends work, welcomes review

AMSTERDAM (AP) - The head of the U.N. scientific body on climate change is defending the work of the thousands of scientists who contribute to its reports even as he welcomes a review of procedures that produced errors that undermined the panel's public credibility.

The chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Rajendra Pachauri, has cautioned the independent scientific committee reviewing the IPCC's work not to undermine scientists' motivation for contributing to reports on global warming.

Pachauri told the committee's first meeting Friday that the panel's conclusions are valid, even in areas where mistakes were discovered, but that the panel needs to communicate better with the nonscientific world.

The review is expected to take several weeks.