Antinuclear

Further revelations on the scope of cuts to CSIRO climate research

New CSIRO document reveals scale of planned cuts to climate programs, The Age March 23, 2016 Peter Hannam Environment Editor, The Sydney Morning Herald One of CSIRO’s main climate science units planned to slash four out of five researchers, all but eliminating its monitoring and climate modelling research, a new document reveals.

The cuts are contained in an analysis for the Oceans & Atmosphere division, dated January 25, 2016. CSIRO handed over the document to the Senate committee investigating plans to slash 350 staff overall, and it has been made public on the Senate’s website.

Doubts over the rationale and planning of the cuts flared on Tuesday in another CSIRO section facing deep job losses, with many Land & Water staff walking out of a meeting with chief executive Larry Marshall.

Scientists, though, have told the Senate committee investigating the CSIRO that adaptation work would be much harder to do unless Australia is able to predict the rate of change and where its impacts will hit the hardest.

The document shows the net reduction in full-time staff in the O&A division would save just $6.5 million a year. That calculation was based on $8.8 million in salaries and $2.7 million in lower operating costs, with the gains set against $5 million in lost revenue.

“It’s a pretty bad deal – you cut about 110 staff all together and you recover almost nothing,” one senior scientist told Fairfax Media. “You also ruin the reputation [of CSIRO] and the lives” of the staff let go.

Dr Marshall is expected to be grilled on the document when he fronts the Senate committee, now planned for April 7. http://www.theage.com.au/environment/new-csiro-document-reveals-scale-of-planned-cuts-to-climate-programs-20160322-gnodtg.html

March 23, 2016 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming