President Vaclav Klaus says rise in temperatures is small

At a conference on global warming held in New York on Monday by U.N. Secretary General Ba Ki-moon, Czech President Vaclav Klaus said that the rise in temperatures is small in a historical context. The rise in temperatures in the recent years, decades and centuries, according to the Czech President, has been small, and its impact on mankind and its activities is negligible. Vaclav Klaus also said that the threat of hypothetical future global warming is based solely on speculation. The Czech president has been criticized by some Czech politicians, including Martin Bursik, the head of the Green Party, who said that Mr Klaus' speech could weaken the position of the Czech Republic during negotiations on global climate change.

Author: Jan Richter