EDMONTON — A British science journal has published an article saying Canadian Arctic science is falling behind due to poor funding and co-ordination.
In an opinion piece published Wednesday in the prestigious journal Nature, University of Alberta researcher John England argues that even when scientists win research grants, they often don’t get enough money to get to the remote northern locations they need to go.
“The capacity to support researchers in the field in remote field sites has plummeted, making it difficult for Canadian researchers to continue crucial monitoring of the fast-changing Arctic environment,” England writes.
England notes research grants from agencies such as the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council don’t include money for logistics, such as flying equipment and personnel to research locations.
Such support comes from the Polar Continental Shelf Project. Located in Resolute, Nunavut, that agency supplies researchers with everything from tents and snow machines to helicopter and airplane flights.
“They are Canada’s sole logistical support for all things Arctic and they are doing all that they can with a very limited budget, which, by American standards, is laughable,” England said.
Some scientists, including England, have had to cancel research for which they’ve received funding because they couldn’t afford to get to where they needed to go.
More money would be nice, he said. But the real problem is that Canada lacks an integrated northern policy that would compel all agencies of government to work together.
“A polar policy makes co-operation and that kind of national effort compulsory,” he said. “It’s a flagrant oversight not to have a northern policy for a northern nation.”
Martin Bergmann, head of the Continental Shelf Project, concedes that England has a point.
“He’s got it mostly right,” he said.
The Project does meet with other granting agencies to try to find extra money for high-priority research programs that need more air time. As well, Bergmann’s group tries to get the best value for its money, asking scientists working in similar areas to team up on flights in order to cut costs.
Bergmann also points out that research in the North is becoming more complex, involving more researchers and gear in the field than ever before.
“There’s just not enough to go around.”
He said the creation of the planned High Arctic Research Station, the location of which the federal government has yet to announce, will likely bring new money for logistical support.
“The answers that John are looking for are tied into that outcome,” said Bergmann. “We’re very much encouraged.”
Still, England points out the U.S. budget for logistics alone is about $100 million annually.
“I’ve seen individual American scientists getting logistical support on an annual basis that equals the entire national budget in Canada,” he said.
England applauds federal efforts such as the refitting of a coast guard icebreaker into a research vessel and the $85 million given to rebuild regional Arctic research centres. But without the ability to move scientists around between those centres and onto the land, those efforts are incomplete.
“Polar Shelf is the heart and soul of polar research in Canada, its circulation system. The heart of what those rebuilt research stations are going to be able to do is going to be on the logistical vitality of Polar Shelf that connects them all.
“We need to integrate all this stuff.”