ClimateWire: Because the Canadian government has not provided additional funding for the Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory on Canada’s Ellesmere Island, the remote climate change research facility will be forced to close by next year, researchers said during a conference call earlier this week.
Researchers said the decision by Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government not to fund the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences demonstrates skepticism about climate change. They said forcing the research facility to close will stifle climate research that might support action to prevent global warming.
“It’s quite clear we have a government that says they believe this is an issue but really don’t care about it,” said Andrew Weaver, a climatologist at the University of Victoria. “They’re basically saying, ‘We don’t want your science anymore.’”
The climate science foundation received $110 million in funding about 10 years ago, but that money will run out by early next year. Environment Minister Jim Prentice said the government remains committed to climate research but wants to check that the funding has been put to good use before it chooses to provide more.
“We think it is appropriate that the foundation report to the government on the progress it has made, how those dollars were invested and what we’ve learned from the research that was done,” he said (Shawn McCarthy, Toronto Globe and Mail, March 9). – GN