Insults, threats target Spain forecasters over climate ‘conspiracy’

Spain’s government on Friday came to the defence of the AEMET weather agency, which has suffered threats and abuse from climate conspiracy theorists over its forecasts during a record drought.

“Murderers”, “Criminals”, “You’ll pay for this” and “We’re watching you” are just some of the anonymous messages sent to AEMET in recent weeks on social media, by email and even by phone.

The threats were responding to forecasts and reports published by AEMET, notably over last week’s early heatwave, when Spain registered its hottest-ever temperature for April, reaching 38.8 degrees Celsius (101.8 degrees Fahrenheit) in Cordoba.

“Enough is enough,” wrote Ecology Minister Teresa Ribera on social media.

“Lying, fuelling conspiracies and fear, being insulting… impoverishes us as a society and has unacceptable consequences,” she said.

In a video published last month on Twitter that highlighted some of the abuse it had received, AEMET called for “respect” for its staff.

“While we respect freedom of expression and welcome interaction, not everything is OK,” it said.

Greenpeace Spain said it was “very concerned about the aggressive tone taken by some climate deniers and conspiracy theorists”.

In an interview with the El Diario news website, AEMET’s Estrella Gutierrez said she had “never” come across such aggression in her 30 years of working in the sector.

“Climate change is obviously real. The latest IPCC report and others before it, found that climate change is bringing episodes of higher temperatures and now we’re feeling it,” she said.

Last week’s scorching temperatures worsened drought conditions that have already seen some farmers chosing not to sow crops this year.

In 2022, Spain experienced its hottest year since records began, with United Nations figures suggesting nearly 75 percent of the country is susceptible to desertification due to climate change.

With water reservoirs at half their capacity and farmers unions saying 60 percent of agricultural land is “suffocating” from lack of rain, Spain has asked Brussels to help by activating the European Unoin’s agriculture crisis reserve funds.

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