BOTANIST David Bellamy will be among the speakers at a conference in St Ives questioning the truth of climate change.

BOTANIST David Bellamy will be among the speakers at a conference in St Ives questioning the truth behind climate change.

The day-long event – entitled ‘Climate change? Who is paying? And for what?’ – seeks to counter “common perceptions” of the issue, which organisers say are often “steeped in emotion, disinformation and hysteria”.

Speakers at the conference will include meteorologist Piers Corbyn and experts in geophysics and sea-level monitoring, but organiser Philip Foster says that no specialist knowledge is needed to enjoy the talks.

The conference will be held on Saturday, March 19, at the start of Climate Week, when Mr Foster, a retired priest from Hemingford Abbots, hopes to put the spotlight back on climate scepticism.

“This conference will show that climate scepticism is not dead, that the door is at long last open, and that I think we can win the argument,” he told The Hunts Post.

Mr Foster and his fellow sceptics do not accept the scientific truth of climate modelling, and object to what they see as the restrictive and expensive public policy decisions being made on the basis of its conclusions.

“Is there a problem with the climate? No, there is not.

“[This conference] aims to open a debate that has been suppressed thus far. Not to continue the debate is incompatible with proper scientific process and, to boot, a denial of democracy,” he added.

A campaign to repeal the Climate Change Act 2008 will also be launched at the conference. The campaigners will also call for a Climate Change Truth Commission to be set up, with the brief of fully and impartially assessing the science of climate change.

Continuing with the Climate Change Act 2008, which commits the UK to a 34 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, and 80 per cent by 2050, would be “suicidal”, Mr Foster believes.

“If we cut our emissions by 80 per cent by 2050, we will be a third-world country. It’s just not possible,” he said.

“It’s all because people believe carbon dioxide is bad for the atmosphere. They think it’s a pollutant – it’s not: it makes life.

“The last time carbon dioxide levels were this low was 300million years ago. Only four per cent of carbon emissions are caused by humans, the other 96 per cent is from natural causes.

“When you think of the reality of what they are talking about, the human effect is trivial.”

Mr Foster is a prominent climate change sceptic, having written While the Earth Endures and initiated the Copenhagen Climate Challenge in December 2009, following which a 10-point letter signed by 170 climate scientists was sent to the United Nations.

He said: “There are serious effects caused by people who believe in climate change, particularly in the third world.

“By telling them not to use fossil fuels you are committing them not to develop.”

INFORMATION: The one-day conference ‘Climate Change? Who is paying? And for what?’ takes place from 9.30am to 8pm on Saturday, March 19 at Burleigh Hill Farm, Somersham Road, St Ives. Tickets are �20.