Prominent public health advocate Simon Chapman has slammed the Australian Academy of Science, describing it as "spineless" for its refusal to endorse March for Science rallies in Australia.

April 22 – World Earth Day – will see demonstrations in 53 countries, centred on Washington DC, in response to what many perceive as US President Donald Trump's attacks on science.

Since taking office in January, Mr Trump has ordered the removal of climate-change initiatives from the White House website and moved to stop scientific organisations, including NASA, from tracking the impacts of climate change.

In various posts to social media website Twitter, Mr Trump has vowed to dismantle the Paris climate accords and in 2012 he infamously stated that global warming was "created by and for the Chinese to make US manufacturing non-competitive".