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Job Cuts At NIWA Lauder: World-Class Science Canned

The New Zealand Association of Scientists (Inc.)

P.O. Box 1874

Wellington 6140

New Zealand

6 July 2012

For Immediate Release: NZ Association of Scientists

Job Cuts At NIWA Lauder: World-Class Science Canned

It has been announced that NIWA plans to cut a number of senior science jobs at its Lauder office in Central Otago. These scientists are involved in making critical measurements of Southern Hemisphere climate and atmospheric ozone and will lose their jobs in September. “This will spell the end of the world-class climate measurement science programme at Lauder”, said NZAS Past President, Associate Professor James Renwick.

The Lauder office is a key component of several global atmosphere and climate observing programmes. It is one of very few such sites in the Southern Hemisphere. The NIWA web site itself notes, “Lauder is one of five global charter sites in the international Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change. Consequently, it has some of the best instruments in the world for atmospheric research.” It is a major New Zealand contribution to international science and is crucial to understanding issues such as ozone depletion.

Professor Renwick said “Reducing the Lauder laboratory to a shell, without the resources to continue the science that has made it internationally famous, is a travesty. This proposal will do serious damage to New Zealands international reputation, involvement in international science and our ability to benefit from it.”

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The government claims to be committed to science, and to making New Zealand a „smart nation. But destroying long-standing, world-class scientific capability is not the way to get there. New Zealand cannot become a smart economy without proper support for fundamental observation, analysis and research. “Scientific capability of this quality takes decades to develop but can be destroyed with the flick of a bureaucrats pen. While we as citizens fully understand the need to make savings in fiscally troubled times, sacrificing long-term capability of proven value to the international scientific community is extremely short-sighted”, said Professor Renwick.

“It is another indication that New Zealand is unwilling to make the commitment to investment in science that nations such as Singapore have done” he said. “This is not the time to downsize atmospheric monitoring and research, but rather to support it in line with global recognition of its importance.”

The New Zealand Association of Scientists (www.scientists.org.nz) is a nationwide association of practising research scientists spanning the universities, technical institutes, Crown Research Institutes, government departments, industry, museums, other science institutions, and independent researchers.

ENDS

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