According to a new study, Australian scientists are speaking out against undue modification of scientific advice on climate, mining, and logging are done, and findings are suppressed.

The New Research

New research shows that the work of one-third of all Australian conservation scientists and ecologists in industries and government are being modified, and their advice is suppressed.

According to these scientists, they are not allowed to speak about their researches openly, and their advice on the impacts of land-clearing, climate, mining, and logging are gagged.

The study was published in Conservation Letters, which surveyed 220 scientists employed in the academe, government, and industry regarding the extent of suppression that they and their work suffered.

(Photo: Pixabay)
According to a new study, Australian scientists are speaking out against undue modification of scientific advice on climate, mining, and logging is being done, and findings are being suppressed.

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Various Kinds of Suppression

They experienced different forms of suppression, such as the inability to publish or present their results, self-censorship stemming from the fear of retribution, and their findings being changed before releasing their works.

About one-third of their work had undergone undue modification. Around half of the government's scientists, almost 40% of scientists working in industries, say they were prevented from discussing or releasing their findings, whether publicly or in their workplace.

Meanwhile, 56% of the respondents said they felt that constraints on public commentaries had increased in severity recently. Usually, these were commentaries on the condition of endangered species. 56% of scientists in the industry, 46% in government, and 28% in the university reported that they felt they were limited on what they were allowed to say.

Researchers in the industry feared being misrepresented by the media, and their boss or their workplace policy constrained government researchers.

Study lead author Don Driscoll, past president of the Ecological Society of Australia, said that the suppression came from the media, social media platforms, colleagues, policymakers, conferences, and peer-reviewed journals. Driscoll says the system is corrupted.

Driscoll added that the scientists were usually consultants that assessed the environmental impacts of development proposals. The contracts state that they cannot speak publicly. Also, government agencies and departments are increasingly politicized, where information is usually filtered before presented to politicians.

According to the authors, their respondents represented scientists across gender, age, and work type.

Driscoll said this politicized culture of exerting vested interests needs independent groups to determine whether project proposals have merit. Co-author Euan Ritchie says that their study is clear evidence that the democratic process is being tampered. 

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Mental Trauma

Ritchie also says that such suppression affects the scientists' mental health. Anonymous respondents said they were threatened to be fired if they spoke up. They were even intimidated by senior public officials in social media and thru phone calls, and they had to quit their jobs from loss of motivation and stress. The issue also caused "eco-grief" and "eco-anxiety" in many scientists.

Current Legislation

This study was conducted before reviewing Australia's environmental laws by former competition and consumer commission head Graeme Samuel. He found that rules were not significant, and the environment is in continued decline. He proposed the introduction of an independent assessment group that will ensure the environment's protection. He also proposed introducing environmental standards to impose conservation protection.

Last week, the government stifled debate and forced legislation without including promised proposed changes in the Environment Protection & Biodiversity Conservation Act. Sussan Ley, the environment minister, relayed that they will be inserted later.

These setbacks to the already politicized and suppressed condition of Australian scientists bodes ill for the climate and the environment as mining and logging continue their destruction.

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