UN chief defends science and weather forecasting as Trump threatens both

GENEVA — The United Nations chief delivered a strong defense of science and meteorology on Wednesday, praising the U.N. weather agency for helping save lives by keeping watch for climate disasters around the world.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke to the World Meteorological Organization as science faces an assault in the United States: President Donald Trump's administration has led an anti-science push, and Trump has called climate change “ a con job.”

A longtime advocate for the fight against global warming, Guterres spoke at a special WMO meeting aimed to promote early-warning systems that help countries rich and poor brace for floods, storms, forest fires and heat waves.

“Without your long-term monitoring, we wouldn’t benefit from the warnings and guidance that protect communities and save millions of lives and billions of dollars each year,” he said, alluding to "the dangerous and existential threat of climate change.”

Last week, the weather agency reported that heat-trapping carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere jumped by the highest amount on record last year, soaring to a level not seen in human civilization and causing more extreme weather.

Guterres called WMO staffers the “quiet force that illuminates all the rational climate decisions that we take."

“Scientists and researchers should never be afraid to tell the truth,” he added.

The Trump administration has carried out deep cuts to the National Weather Service and fired hundreds of weather forecasters and other employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.