Poor left to suffer

You suggest in your editorial (6 July) that challenging the idea of climate change is healthy for democracy and the future of the planet.

Christian Aid begs to differ. In developing countries, far from being a matter of "healthy debate", climate change is devastating people's homes and livelihoods. Extreme weather is making poor communities more vulnerable to drought, hurricanes and rising sea levels, while changing weather patterns are wrecking the harvests on which subsistence farmers depend.

The experience of the people in the communities that Christian Aid works with, of less predictable and more extreme weather, is consistent with the overwhelming scientific evidence that the world is warming, affecting local weather patterns.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change clearly stated, with more than 90 per cent certainty, that global warming is caused by human activity. It is highly irresponsible to discount the judgment of the world's top scientists, when to do so encourages a blatant disregard for the impact of our behaviour on the lives of the world's poorest communities.

UNA BARTLEY

Christian Aid

George IV Bridge, Edinburgh