Concern CSIRO job cuts could leave Australia in the dark on climate impacts

Farmers for Climate Action

CSIRO job cuts could impact Australia’s ability to model climate impacts and submit projections for global reports
FCA expresses concerns about the potential impact on climate models and projections that farmers rely on for their livelihoods and productivity
FCA calls for assurance that there will be no impact on external outputs from these cuts

Farmers for Climate Action (FCA) has expressed concern at the slated CSIRO job cuts and has called for the government to ensure there is no impact on the climate modelling and projections from the organisation.

FCA said Australians should be proud of our contributions to the global understanding of climate science and that farmers rely on world class modelling and projections for critical farm management decisions.

“We need more data - not less - on the impacts of climate change and it seems insane that Australia’s peak research body would contemplate cutting resources from such a critical area of work. We need solid assurance that the slated changes don’t risk jeopardising the integrity and quality of our climate science,” said FCA Acting CEO, Verity Morgan-Schmidt.

“It’s especially important for farmers who are already dealing with lost agricultural productivity due in part to a changing climate. If there is a reduction in information available to farmers as a result of the outlined changes: how can they be expected to keep farming productively?

“This data and service is too important to be at the whims of staffing and funding cuts. We welcomed the Federal Government’s recent additional funding of $387.4m into CSIRO and I call on the Federal Government to ensure that Australian farmers can rely on the CSIRO to continue to do this vital work.”

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Contact details:

Cam Klose 0490 436 948 [email protected]