Open letter to the President of the United States of America, Barak Obama

Dear Mr. President,

During the course of the G8 meetings you will be playing a very determinant role, as we believe that the role that the Presidency of the United States will play in the discussion of themes such as climate change and environmental protection will be crucial. We also believe that this an occasion for us in which to present you with another theme which we consider of fundamental importance for society: public environmental research.

Mr. President, the onset of your election has brought about many expectations in the minds of citizens across our planet. You are considered a leader who has been able to tell its country, and the rest of the countries on our globe, that we can only resolve the terrible environmental issues incumbent on our planet if we confront them in unison, citizen by citizen, nation by nation.

We are a group of environmental researchers who carry out their work with high commitment and professionality at ISPRA (Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research), a public research institute who, by decree, provides scientific and technical support to the Italian Ministry of the Environment on all cross-cutting themes concerning environmental policies. Just as in analogous institutes of many other countries such as yours, ISPRA represents the governmental agency and research body dedicated to supporting its country’s central administration in those processes involving environmental monitoring , protection, management, decision-making, and planning.

On the last 30th of June, more than 200 researchers, technicians and administrative staff with temporary contracts did not see their contracts renewed while other 200 units of personnel will face a similar situation by the end of December 2009. This number represents a high percentage of the total number of staff working in ISPRA.

It is obvious that the cut in research and technicians will not only heavily weigh on the scientific activities carried out by ISPRA, but will also influence numerous processes involving environmental quality in our country, thereby contributing in impoverishing the nation’s capacity to play a significant role in environmental research, a role which over the course of the years was attained also thanks to the commitment and high professional standards of temporary research staff such as ourselves. In so doing, Italy will end up loosing the knowledge and capacity heritage which it so diligently built up through the years, thereby creating a loss to its citizens and to future generations. We believe that the stability of the technical advisory bodies of a country’s central administrations and the capacity to conduct sound scientific research are amongst the fundamental pillars that can guarantee the future of a nation, and the future of a nation is foremostly an affair of its citizens.

We are therefore sending you a copy of the open letter which we sent, to this effect, to Italian Minister of the Environment, Ms. Stefania Prestigiacomo. We hope that you will consider signing it and being a spokesperson for us to the Italian Government.

We have also produced a small videoclip that briefly summarises our situation. The videoclip can be seen at www.nonsparateallaricerca.org and the site also allows citizens, from any nation, to sign our open letter plea.

In thanking you for your attention and support, please accept, Mr. President, our most distinct regards,

The assembly of the temporary research staff of ISPRA