MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Paraguayan Agriculture Minister has doubts about climate change

“I have my doubts that climate change is real,” Giménez said in a radio interview

Paraguay's Agriculture Minister Carlos Giménez said Wednesday that he was seriously doubting there was such a thing as climate change. “There have always been droughts and floods in Paraguay,” he pointed out in a broadcast interview in Asunción.

“As long as I can remember, we have always had that situation, there are times when the rains are timely and others when they are not, we should not take it as a climate change,” he added during his appearance on 1080 AM.

“I have my doubts that climate change is real,” insisted the official despite constant floods, extreme droughts, and even tornadoes in the country.

“I agree that we talk about global warming, but with climate change, for me, they are completely different things,” he added.

In Giménez's view, global warming is due to the use of vehicles and carbon emissions. He also said he would analyze the environmental requirements of the European Union for production in Paraguay.

Also casting doubts on climate change this week was a full convention of renowned scientists in Baltimore, Maryland, including Physics Nobel Prize John Clauser, who argued on Tuesday that the whole issue was a hoax perpetrated by a “global conspiracy” that includes the United Nations, the World Economic Forum and many Catholic Church leaders. Clauser was awarded the accolade for his pioneering experiments with particles of light in the 1970s.

“There is no climate crisis,” they said in opposition to the broad consensus within the scientific community, where it is believed that Clauser, now aged 80, uses his stature to mislead the public about a planetary emergency. According to Clauser, skepticism is a fundamental part of the scientific process.

“There was an overwhelming consensus that I was doing something nonsensical” in the 1970s″, he said after the press conference. “It took 50 years for my work to win the prize - that's how long it takes for opinions to change,” Clauser insisted.

Tuesday's event was organized by the Deposit of Faith Coalition, a group that brings together more than a dozen Catholic organizations and argues that “those who support the anti-God, anti-family climate agenda need to be denounced and exposed.” Clauser, who is an atheist, had to be persuaded to accept the role of keynote speaker, a spokesperson for the coalition acknowledged.

“Although it may irritate a lot of people, my message is that the planet is not at risk,” Clauser told around a dozen listeners in a hotel conference room, as well as an online audience. “I call myself a climate denier,” he added.

There is abundant scientific evidence of the change in the frequency and intensity of weather phenomena. It is not that they did not exist before, climate scientists agree.