toothlessjaws
Well-Known Member
https://www.theage.com.au/environme...-are-commonly-suppressed-20200908-p55tnr.html
Australian ecologists say their findings are 'commonly suppressed'
The Age, September 9, 2020
By Peter Hannam
Australia's ecologists say they face gags on getting their information into the public domain, potentially leading to poor policy outcomes for issues ranging from threatened species to tackling climate change.
A survey of 220 people conducted by the Ecological Society of Australia and published on Wednesday in the Conservation Letters journal, found about half of government respondents, and almost 40 per cent of industry respondents, had been prohibited from public communication about their research.
"Suppressing expert knowledge can hide environmentally damaging practices and policies from public scrutiny," the paper said.
Of the 220 surveyed, 88 were from universities, 79 from governments, 47 from industry, with the other six declining to give a classification.
About a third of government respondents reported higher rates of "undue modification of their work by their employers", with about 30 per cent in industry and five per cent among university respondents reporting the same.
Such modifications included substantive changes to a text or story "that downplays, masks, or misleads about environmental impacts", the paper found.
About half of government employees and 38 per cent of those from industry said they had experienced prohibition from public communications about their research.
“Some of our country’s best scientists are being prevented from sharing their science with the media or on social media,” said Don Driscoll, the society's immediate past president, and lead author of the paper.
“But even more alarmingly scientists are also being prohibited from sharing their research findings with their colleagues and policymakers via journal papers, conference articles and technical memos.”
The findings were "seriously concerning", he said, because it meant policymakers were making decisions on big environmental issues like threatened species, land clearing, logging and climate change without seeing all the information available.
The paper said fear of dismissal or impeded advancement were likely mechanisms for the suppression of information, with pressure coming "primarily from senior management, but also government ministers' offices and middle management particularly from government respondents".
The paper's release comes as the Morrison government prepares to shake up federal biodiversity protection laws, including giving greater powers to the states to assess major projects.
Richard Kingsford, the director of the Centre for Ecosystem Science at the University of NSW, said the trend towards suppressing information was "unfortunately becoming an increasing problem with more and more tension in exploitation of natural resources and impacts on the environment".
"There is increasing pressure on government employees around Australia who are working in the environment area if their data are not fitting the 'company line'," Professor Kingsford said.
Australian ecologists say their findings are 'commonly suppressed'
The Age, September 9, 2020
By Peter Hannam
Australia's ecologists say they face gags on getting their information into the public domain, potentially leading to poor policy outcomes for issues ranging from threatened species to tackling climate change.
A survey of 220 people conducted by the Ecological Society of Australia and published on Wednesday in the Conservation Letters journal, found about half of government respondents, and almost 40 per cent of industry respondents, had been prohibited from public communication about their research.
"Suppressing expert knowledge can hide environmentally damaging practices and policies from public scrutiny," the paper said.
Of the 220 surveyed, 88 were from universities, 79 from governments, 47 from industry, with the other six declining to give a classification.
About a third of government respondents reported higher rates of "undue modification of their work by their employers", with about 30 per cent in industry and five per cent among university respondents reporting the same.
Such modifications included substantive changes to a text or story "that downplays, masks, or misleads about environmental impacts", the paper found.
About half of government employees and 38 per cent of those from industry said they had experienced prohibition from public communications about their research.
“Some of our country’s best scientists are being prevented from sharing their science with the media or on social media,” said Don Driscoll, the society's immediate past president, and lead author of the paper.
“But even more alarmingly scientists are also being prohibited from sharing their research findings with their colleagues and policymakers via journal papers, conference articles and technical memos.”
The findings were "seriously concerning", he said, because it meant policymakers were making decisions on big environmental issues like threatened species, land clearing, logging and climate change without seeing all the information available.
The paper said fear of dismissal or impeded advancement were likely mechanisms for the suppression of information, with pressure coming "primarily from senior management, but also government ministers' offices and middle management particularly from government respondents".
The paper's release comes as the Morrison government prepares to shake up federal biodiversity protection laws, including giving greater powers to the states to assess major projects.
Richard Kingsford, the director of the Centre for Ecosystem Science at the University of NSW, said the trend towards suppressing information was "unfortunately becoming an increasing problem with more and more tension in exploitation of natural resources and impacts on the environment".
"There is increasing pressure on government employees around Australia who are working in the environment area if their data are not fitting the 'company line'," Professor Kingsford said.
