Paavo Siitam

Background

According to Siitam, he is a plant scientist, and has also been a teacher as well as a chemist for the sugar industry.

Publications

According to a search of 22,000 academic journals, Siitam has never published original research in a peer-reviewed journal.

Primary Affiliations

Siitam was listed as an “Allied Expert ” for the Natural Resource Stewardship Project (NRSP). The NRSP no longer appears to be in operation and their website was taken down in 2008.  The group was led by executive director Tom Harris and Dr. Tim Ball.

In an October 16, 2006 CanWest Global news article, Tom Harris stated that "a confidentiality agreement doesn't allow him to say whether energy companies are funding his group."

Skeptical Activities

Open Letters Skeptical of Climate Change

2007 Open Letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon

Siitam signed a 2007 open letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon that denied man-made climate change. 

The letter states that "it is not possible to stop climate change, a natural phenomenon that has affected humanity throughout the ages."

2006 Open Letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper

Siitam was one of the 60 "accredited experts" who signed the 2006 open letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Those who signed denied the existence of man-made climate change and urged the government avoid implementing climate policy. 

The letter also states that "climate changes all the time due to natural causes and the human impact still remains impossible to distinguish from this natural 'noise.'"

2008 Manhattan Declaration on Climate Change

According to the International Climate Science Coalition (ICSC), Siitam was a "climate expert" who signed the 2008 Manhattan Declaration on Climate Change. 

The Manhattan Declaration contends that "'global warming' is not a global crisis," and that "current plans to restrict anthropogenic CO2 emissions are a dangerous misallocation of intellectual capital and resources that should be dedicated to solving humanity’s real and serious problems."

The Declaration was first presented at the Heartland Institute's 2008 International Conference on Climate Change, which has become an annual gathering of prominent climate skeptics.

Inhofe's List

Siitam appears on Senator James Inhofe's list of "prominent scientists" who refute the existence of man-made global warming.  The list has been thoroughly debunked here.

Related Materials

• "Paavo Siitam," short biography. 
• "61 Prominent International Scientists signed this open letter to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper:" Friends of Science, accessed Oct 12, 2011.