Canadian climate science is dealing with a looming crisis whose repercussions may be felt far past the nation’s borders, a whole bunch of scientists have warned, after the Canadian authorities didn’t renew the nation’s solely devoted funding program for climate and atmospheric analysis.
In an open letter addressed to Justin Trudeau, greater than 250 scientists from 22 countries spotlight their concern over the approaching end of the C$35m Climate Change and Atmospheric Research program.
Launched in 2012, this system funded seven analysis networks that explored issues such because the affect of aerosols, changing sea ice and snow cowl, in addition to atmospheric temperatures within the high Arctic.
Much of the analysis rising from this program was centered on Canada’s Arctic, yielding information units that were used all over the world by scientists looking for better understanding climate change and its impacts.
The government’s determination came here as a shock to many in Canada, stated Dan Weaver of Evidence For Democracy, the analysis advocacy group who published the letter on Monday.
“The government has taken great effort to engage with policies around climate and climate education, green energy and a lot of these great things,” he said. “But somehow along the way, the support for the atmospheric science – the underlying science of the issue – has been overlooked.”
Scientists in Canada first sounded the alarm last spring after noticing that the 2017 federal budget did not include funding for the program. Amid public outcry the government said it would extend funding for one of the program’s projects; a one-of-a-kind research lab located some 1,100 km from the North Pole.
In response to the letter, Canada’s minister of science pointed to the extra C$70m her authorities had put aside for climate analysis within last budget, including to the C$37m supplied yearly by federal analysis granting councils. “We are doing more to combat climate change than any Canadian federal government in history,” Kirsty Duncan said in a statement. “Our government will continue to support and invest in the actions necessary to address climate change.”
> Shiuly Akter
Canadian Climate Science Faces Crisis That May be Perceived Globally, Scientists Warn
