What the 2009 report for the Indian Ministry of Forests and Environment actually says is that the average retreat of glaciers, approximately five meters per year since the 1840’s, when records began to be kept, accelerated sharply between the 1950’s and 1990’s. But the retreat slowed after the mid-1990’s until, for some of the biggest and best-known glaciers, such as Gangotri and Siachen, it had “practically come to a standstill during the period 2007-2009.”
气候变化怀疑论者拿过来当枪使的是印度林业与环境部 2009 年收到的一份报告。该报告完整的结论是，自 19 世纪 40 年代有观测记录以来，喜马拉雅山冰川一直以年均约 5 米的速度后退，在 20 世纪 50 年代至 90 年代之间，冰川后退急剧提速。但自 20 世纪 90 年代起，后退速度有所回落，因为一些知名大冰川，如根戈德里冰川和锡亚琴冰川的后退，“在 2007~2009 年期间实际上已经处于停滞状态。”