Right-wing President Javier Milei has taken an axe to funding for education and scientific bodies, sparking fears for climate research A medical student walks past a placard announcing the time left before the budget for the university runs out, at the entrance of the University of Buenos Aires Medical School, in the run-up to a national strike on April 23 against Argentina's President Javier Milei's policy of cuts in public education, in Buenos Aires, Argentina April 17, 2024 (Photo: REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian) As a budget freeze for Argentina’s public universities amid soaring inflation leaves campuses unable to pay their electricity bills and climate science under threat, the country’s researchers and students are taking to the streets in a nationwide demonstration on Tuesday. The dire outlook for Argentina’s renowned higher education system under President Javier Milei, a right-wing populist, was highlighted on April 22 – Earth Day – by Argentine plant ecologist Pedro Jaureguiberry, who was announced as a finalist in the prestigious Frontiers Planet Prize. ?“The current budget for universities in 2024 is insufficient, adding to the fact that in recent years we have only received 20% of the budget we asked for conducting research at our lab,” Jaureguiberry, an assistant researcher with the Multidisciplinary Institute of Plant Biology at the National University of Córdoba (UNC), told Climate Home. The 44-year-old scientist, who has spent his entire academic career in Argentina, was shortlisted for the award as one of 23 national champions drawn from science research teams across six continents, in recognition of a study he led on the drivers of human-caused biodiversity loss. Dr Jaureguiberry conducting fieldwork in central western Argentina. (Photo: Diego Gurvich) Of the finalists, three international winners will be announced in June in Switzerland, receiving prize money of $1.1 million... |