BBC backs down on climate change
Forced to delete David Attenborough's 'alarmist' warming claims from final show of Africa series. - Speaking over footage of Mount Kilimanjaro, Sir David made the assertion that 'some parts of the continent have become 3.5C hotter in the past 20 years'. However, figures from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change show that since 1850 global temperatures have risen by 0.76C, causing widespread concern among viewers. The comment, first broadcast in the final episode of the Africa series last Wednesday, was removed from Sunday night’s repeat of the show. A BBC spokesman said: 'There is widespread acknowledgement within the scientific community that the climate of Africa has been changing as stated in the programme. 'We accept the evidence for 3.5 degrees increase is disputable and the commentary should have reflected that. 'Therefore that line has been removed from Sunday's repeat and the iPlayer version replaced.' Many took to Twitter to dispute the fact, asking where the data came from. The BBC initially defended the claim, saying it was taken from a report by Oxfam and the New Economics Foundation, but in turn this report suggested the figure had come from a report by Christian Aid. This report however, says the data came from a 'conversation with authors; February 2006,' and the report's authors have not responded to question over its validity. Experts have also questioned the figure, with Dr Tim Osborn of the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit telling the Guardian: So I would say that our data do not support the claim of 3.5 degC warming in the last 20 years in some regions of Africa.'