The UK Department Of The Envronment, DEFRA, have just made this relatively low-key announcement:
A World Bank Chief Scientist and former White House Advisor has been appointed the next Chief Scientific Adviser for Defra.
Robert Watson will join the department in September from the World Bank where he is currently Chief Scientist and Senior Advisor for Sustainable Development. He has also held senior positions at NASA and, more recently, at the White House, where he was responsible for ensuring that science underpinned policy making.
In his new role, Professor Watson will advise ministers on science issues and build on existing measures to ensure that science and technology are used to inform policy. He will support the UK Government’s scientific work on minimising the effects of climate change and improving sustainability by promoting consistency across Defra and working together with other Government departments.
The difference between Gordon Brown and Tony Blair may not be obvious to some, but this is one appointment that could never have happened on Tony’s watch.
Bob Watson was the head of the IPCC until George Bush decided that this global, objective, august scientific organisation needed a taste of political intrusion. So, in 2002, George convinced a number of small nations to oust Watson. Here, I take up the story (!) :
When George Bush refused to support the re-election of Bob Watson in 2002 to the chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on the behest of ExxonMobil, he clearly recognised the importance of research in informing the climate message. Both the Bush White House and ExxonMobil saw that as a result of many years of objective research, the message coming out of the IPCC was that of irrefutable human induced climate change. With Watson out of the way Bush could, in theory, manipulate the IPCC to his own ends.
(from http://earth-blog.bravejournal.com/entry/16236)
So all power to Gordon Brown’s elbow. British climate science may never be the same again.
Keith Farnish
www.theearthblog.org
www.reduce3.com
And Proud Member Of The Sietch