Sharp decline in public's belief in threat posed by climate change

London, Feb 24 (ANI): A new poll in Great Britain has revealed that there has been a sharp decline in the British public's belief in the threat posed by climate change.

According to a report in The Guardian, over 1,000 people in Great Britain were questioned on their views on climate change as part of the Ipsos Mori poll.

Public conviction about the threat of climate change has declined sharply after months of questions over the science and growing disillusionment with government action, the leading British poll found.

The proportion of adults who believe climate change is "definitely" a reality dropped by 30 percent over the last year, from 44 percent to 31 percent, in the latest survey by Ipsos Mori.

Overall around nine out of 10 people questioned still appear to accept some degree of global warming.

But, the steep drop in those without doubts will raise fears that it will be harder to persuade the public to support actions to curb the problem, particularly higher prices for energy and other goods.

The true level of doubt is also probably underestimated because the poll only questioned 16 to 64-year-olds.

People over 65 are more likely to be sceptical, according to the researchers.

Another finding by the poll that hints at a growing lack of public confidence is a significant drop in those who said climate change was caused by human activities.

One year ago, this number was one in three, but this year just one in five people believes global warming to be man-made, according to Edward Langley, Ipsos Mori's head of environment research.

"It's going to be a hard sell to make people make changes to their behaviours unless there's something else in it for them - (like) energy efficiency measures saving money on fuel bills," said Langley.

The latest poll, taken at the end of January, follows two months of allegations that climate scientists might have manipulated and withheld data, and the contradiction of facts in the influential 2007 report on the science and impacts of climate change by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

However evidence that these events are behind the increased public uncertainty is mixed.

Russ Lidstone, chief executive of the advertising agency Euro RSCG, which commissioned the Ipsos Mori survey, said their research among consumers found "great cynicism now as a result of questions in popular culture and regarding credibility of IPCC data". (ANI)