The United Nations chief delivered a strong defense of science and meteorology on Wednesday, praising the U.N. weather agency for helping save lives by keeping watch for climate disasters around the world.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke to the World Meteorological Organization as science faces an assault in the United States: President Donald Trump’s administration has led an anti-science push, and Trump has called climate change � a con job.�

A longtime advocate for the fight against global warming, Guterres spoke at a special WMO meeting aimed to promote early-warning systems that help countries rich and poor brace for floods, storms, forest fires and heat waves.

�Without your long-term monitoring, we wouldn�t benefit from the warnings and guidance that protect communities and save millions of lives and billions of dollars each year,� he said, alluding to “the dangerous and existential threat of climate change.�

Last week, the weather agency reported that heat-trapping carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere jumped by the highest amount on record last year, soaring to a level not seen in human civilization and causing more extreme weather.

Guterres called WMO staffers the �quiet force that illuminates all the rational climate decisions that we take.”

�Scientists and researchers should never be afraid to tell the truth,� he added.

The Trump administration has carried out deep cuts to the National Weather Service and fired hundreds of weather forecasters and other employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

(AP)