Lack of decision on future funding of CFCAS could spark debilitating brain drain

No new competitions since 2007

Canada's small but influential number of climate and atmospheric science researchers could get a lot smaller if a key support organization is not quickly refunded. Repeated requests to the federal government to renew funding for the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences (CFCAS) have so far been ignored, prompting fears that the trickle of scientists who have already left could expand into a mass exodus.

Canadian expertise in climate and atmospheric research is considered an essential underpinning for dealing with the impact of climate change and adaptation measures from both the perspectives of policy and application. Knowledge gained from these types of research are particularly valuable in areas such as urban planning, pipeline routing, construction codes, tourism strategies, emergency preparedness, insurance rates and crop selection, not to mention combating and/or mitigating the near-term impacts of climate change.

Earlier this month, media reports of just such a brain drain appeared in papers across the country, coupled with a suggestion from Environment minister Jim Prentice that the CFCAS funding dilemma would not be addressed in the March 4th federal Budget. Without new funding or any certainty that more money is forthcoming, a large gap in research activity is appearing on the horizon.

"There's a lack of understanding for how research is done. Peer review means it takes at least one year to get money flowing again," says CFCAS executive director Dr Dawn Conway. "Young people are leaving the country to seek opportunities … I think our prime minister needs convincing on the economic importance of climate change."

The CFCAS was founded in 2000 by the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society and funded with a federal endowment of $60 million over six years to support academic research on climate change and air quality. Further funding of $50 million was provided in 2003 as a top-up and to increase its scope to include research related to the Canadian north. Since that time, however, requests for funding renewal have fallen on deaf ears. A 2007 letter to then Environment minister John Baird, who had replaced the short-lived Rona Ambrose.

In the fall of 2008, CFCAS officials present their request for $250 million over 10 years to current Environment minister Jim Prentice . More recently, a letter requesting $50 million over three years was submitted, resulting in a one-year extension of the CFCAS mandate to March 31, 2012, albeit without any new money. CFCAS funding is now completely spent or committed, meaning no new competitions for funding can be held for the indeterminate future.

"Science of this type is something we should be doing. We are part of the G-8 and we need to play at that level. You can't turn science off or on. You must give assurances that funding will continue," says CFCAS chair Dr Gordon McBean, a former Environment Canada official and professor at the Univ of Western Ontario, and chair for policy in the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction.

"Our funding is distinct from NSERC (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council) funding. We currently fund 12 networks and each has government scientists from federal laboratories and the provinces. There's a good amount of technology and knowledge transfer," says Conway. "There are tremendous partnerships that are helping with improving models and prediction."

The Liberal Party has also weighed in on the issue, accusing the Conservative government of dismantling the research networks funded by CFCAS and undermining 10 years of Canadian leadership in climate change science.

STIC review

Last fall, the government requested that a review of the effectiveness and impact of CFCAS be undertaken by the Science, Technology and Innovation Council (STIC). That report is now complete and has been submitted to Industry minister Tony Clement. McBean says he was not contacted for input and has not seen the report, but adds that Conway was interviewed and CFCAS provided the names of scientists who were involved in reviewing grant proposals.

"What is of most concern to me is the brain drain of our stars of the future — PhDs and post docs. R&D in the coming decade does not look very promising," says McBean. "We were supposed to get more funding in 2006, then the election occurred and it did not happen. In fact, the government cancelled all existing climate change funds."

McBean was assistant DM at Environment Canada's Meteorological Service of Canada when CFCAS was originally established. In 1999 he was approached by a senior Finance official responsible for establishing a $1.6-billion package of climate change funding and suggested that a foundation be established .

The CFCAS board takes an active role in defining calls for proposals, organizing international peer reviews and determining the cut-off line for funding, depending on how much money is available.

Following the government's decision not to refund CFCAS in 2006, five-year grants were cut to three years and no new competitions have been held since 2007. "As of 2010, there will be a cessation of all activity we were funding," says Conway. "My impression is that there are people on the decision-making side of government that understand this kind of work is important."

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