Complaint
The programme included a report from Somalia by the BBC’s Climate Editor, Justin Rowlatt, in which he set out to show “how climate change is making conflict in places like this even worse”. A viewer complained that this was misleading because there was insufficient evidence for ascribing the extreme weather events in the region noted by Mr Rowlatt to climate change caused by human activity. The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the BBC’s editorial standards of accuracy.
Outcome
The ECU noted that Mr Rowlatt’s observations on the events in question (sustained drought followed by exceptional flooding) reflected studies by a variety of respected climate scientists and institutions which concurred in finding that climate change caused by human agency had both intensified such events and increased the probability of their occurrence. Accordingly, it found no inaccuracy in this respect.
Not upheld