The science of the poles has never been more urgent. Ice sheets are shrinking, ocean currents are shifting, and researchers warn all of us that what happens in the Arctic and the Antarctic will impact life far beyond them. Yet for all the progress in understanding what is happening, there is a more awkward problem to address: money is running dangerously short.
That was one of the most important challenges that emerged from this year’s Monaco Polar Symposium, held from 25th to 27th February at the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco.
“Conservation efforts, scientific research, and innovation in the polar regions come at a cost but remain significantly underfunded,” said Romain Ciarlet, Vice-Chairman and CEO of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, in his opening address. The figure he put on it was shocking: today, only 10% of polar research funding comes from private and philanthropic sources. The rest falls almost entirely on governments — many of which are tightening their belts.
“We have to make sure that private and philanthropic actors step up,” Ciarlet said.
Turning science into action
This current funding model is no longer sustainable. For that reason, the three-day event dedicated an entire working session to developing what it called ‘innovative funding models’ for polar research.
Then, a second session focused on something equally important: how to actually turn scientific findings into action once the money is found. Knowing what is happening at the poles and being able to do something about it, delegates advocated, are two very different things.
To that end, Prince Albert II referenced the Foundation’s Polar Donor Roundtable, an initiative designed to bridge the gap between, and help structure what he called “a continuum from science to funding, and from funding to impact.”
Whether that ambition can be matched with the appropriate funds remains an open question – and one that will only become more pressing as the countdown to the next International Polar Year, due in 2032-22, gets underway.
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Main photo credit: Monaco Life