Do Not Shoot Research
OPEN LETTER
ADDRESSED TO THE HONOURABLE STEFANIA PRESTIGIACOMO, ITALIAN MINISTER OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND OF THE PROTECTION OF THE TERRITORY AND SEA ON BEHALF OF THE TEMPORARY RESEARCH PERSONNEL OF ISPRA (SUPERIOR INSTITUTE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PROTECTION)
Most honourable Minister,
The merging of APAT (Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale), ICRAM (Istituto Centrale per la Ricerca scientifica e tecnologica Applicata al Mare) and INFS (Istituto Nazionale per la Fauna Selvatica) into a single new institute, called ISPRA (Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale), was achieved in June 2008 with the scope of optimizing the scientific and technical qualifications present within the former governmental institutions so as to provide a more harmonised support to the development of the environmental policies of the Country. It was furthermore evident, that the intent of the legislative hand that formulated ISPRA, as attested by the extended title for which the acronym stands, contemplated that this new institute should carry out and represent two different but complementary aspects of the national environmental policy: one addressing research activities and the other addressing the protection and management of the environment.
After one year from its establishment, we wish to hereby manifest our deep concern for the dramatic situation presently incurring on our institute.
Such dramatic situation is caused by the complete absence, to this date, of an organizational plan capable of enhancing the highly qualified scientific capacities of the staff operating, at present, within ISPRA. The lack of such a plan highlights what seems to clearly be a precise intent to dismantle the research and protection activities that have been so far carried out with devotion and professionality by the scientific and technical staff of the three former Institutes. It is here forth important to remember that such staff has been, and is still, composed in a very large percentage, by temporary contractees thanks to which the Institute has been able to efficiently respond to its institutional duties despite the persistent scenario of low governmental investments.
We therefore cannot hide our strong concern for the uncertain future awaiting the temporary research personnel. These researchers correspond to more than 50% of the working force of the Institute’s research sector and we firmly believe that they represent an intellectual and professional heritage which is of fundamental value for the functioning of ISPRA, as attested by the hundreds of scientific papers published in the recent years. Undoubtedly the massive layoff of researchers and technicians, foreseen by the recently formulated legislative bills, will not only lead to the overburdening of ISPRA’s functioning, but will also result in heavy repercussions on the environmental quality of our Country, as the governmental institute will loose a large component of its highly qualified and experienced temporary research staff. In such a manner, our Country will lose that very same heritage of qualified and functional human resources which it had built through years of research activities, thereby representing a clear a loss for the public Institution that ISPRA is, and thereby representing a loss for the citizens and for the future generations.
In our opinion it is necessary to take immediate action in order to restore the research, control and protection activities which are being progressively dismantled within ISPRA. We believe that a first step towards this direction lies in the restoration of all the efficient and speedy administrative procedures that were first present in the former research institutes and which guaranteed the functioning of the research activities which, over these past months, have been increasingly slowed-up or abandoned. It is only with a harmonised and coherent organisational tool encompassing all the domains and scientific activities of all three former institutes that the staff will be able to reach the past level of excellence and thereby operate to the fullest capacity. The Institute must therefore be provided with a statute, to this day still missing, which should fully reflect the institutional objectives of the three former institutes and specific solutions must be identified in order to support and enhance the existing scientific potentials of the numerous professional profiles present within the Institute thereby achieving the objectives for which the new Institute was projected. Furthermore, it is evermore urgent to identify an adequate technical-legislative tool capable of guaranteeing the continuation of the research activities carried out by the temporary research and technical staff of the institute, thereby avoiding the loss of staff experience and safeguarding the respective high public investments put forth in terms of staff capacity building over the years.
Most honourable Minister, we hereby appeal that you may find the most expedite and harmonised solution for an aspect that we believe is of utmost importance for our Country; that is to say, a solution that may bring ISPRA to its highest efficiency thereby honouring and giving full meaning to the name that it carries. We have chosen to submit our appeal to you through an “open letter” for we believe that scientific research and the protection of the environment is amongst the fundamental aspects of the future of a nation, and the future of a nation is also and mostly an affair of its citizens.
We have therefore chosen to give maximum diffusion to this message and to a video which briefly summarises our situation, which we will distribute with the aid of various communication tools and press conferences, and in which we will illustrate the dire contexts through the utmost constructive approach, and taking care to manifest our total respect for the institutional roles of our Country.
In thanking you for your attention, please accept our most distinct regards,
Rome, June 25 2009
The assembly of ISPRA’s temporary staff
