The letter raises concern that a crisis is looming for Canadian climate and atmospheric research following the government’s failure to renew or replace the Climate Change and Atmospheric Research (CCAR) program which funded seven research networks.
Dear Prime Minister Trudeau,
There is a crisis looming for Canadian climate and atmospheric research that will be felt far beyond Canada’s borders.
As international scientists working in areas related to climate and atmospheric change, we are concerned that seven important research networks supported by the Government of Canada’s Climate Change and Atmospheric Research (CCAR) program are set to end in 2018. Data continuity, international collaborations and unique Arctic facilities are all at stake…
Join 250 international scientists in supporting Canadian climate science, and send a message to your MP today telling them that Canada must re-invest in climate science.
Here’s what some prominent international climate scientists had to say:
“At the highest levels of government in the United States, climate science is devalued and dismissed as “fake news”. In these difficult times, U.S. climate scientists look to our Canadian neighbors for encouragement. We find encouragement in the Trudeau Administration’s publicly stated support for climate science and the Paris Climate Agreement. Such support cannot be limited to fine-sounding words. It must be backed by a real commitment to preserve and sustain the unique climate measurement, climate monitoring, and climate modeling capabilities that Canada possesses. Please ensure that Canadian climate scientists have the resources they need to continue to serve as world leaders in advancing scientific understanding of the nature, causes, and seriousness of climate change. The world is looking to Canada for political leadership that the United States is currently unable to provide.”
– Dr. Benjamin D. Santer, a climate researcher at the U.S. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories and a MacArthur Fellow.
“Canada is uniquely placed to monitor the changing atmosphere in the high Arctic regions. As such Canadian atmospheric and climate science plays a pivotal role in the global effort to understand our changing environment”
Dr. Clare Murphy, Director of the Centre for Atmospheric Chemistry at the University of Wollongong in Australia
“Canada is a world leader in climate science, and is uniquely positioned — by geography, resources, and expertise — to observe and study the Arctic, arguably the most critical region on Earth for quantifying how and why the climate is changing and predicting future changes. Continuous, stable funding support for Canadian atmospheric and climate science is thus crucial to advancing understanding of our planet. Canadian and US expertise in measuring, analyzing, and modeling changes in climate and weather and their effects on humanity is unparalleled. With the US now abdicating leadership on, and potentially undermining support for, climate science in the US, sustained support for Canadian climate science is doubly important.”
– Dr. Gloria Manney, Senior Research Scientist at the Northwest Research Associates in the US
“With the Montreal protocol, Canada has played a unique and pioneering role in the protection of our environment. Since decades, its involvement in the monitoring of the Earth’s atmosphere through satellite and ground-based measurements has been critical for the understanding of the depletion of the ozone layer and climate change. Arctic is a sentinel of climate change. Due to its location, Canada’s leadership in the study and monitoring of Arctic atmosphere has become even more important to our understanding of the rapidly evolving Arctic climate and environment.
– Dr Sophie Godin-Beekmann, Director of Research at Centre National de La Recherche Scientifique in France and President of International Ozone Commission (IO3C)
