Munich

Geoscientists are protesting against proposed cuts to a small but successful international Earth-sciences programme.

The International Geoscience Programme (IGCP), which provides seed money for local projects, has helped thousands of geologists from developing countries to coordinate their work and liaise with colleagues around the world. It has long been seen as the star of the Earth-sciences division of the United Nations Educational, Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

But changes are afoot. When UNESCO's Earth-sciences director retired in November he was not replaced. And according to information leaked to Nature, UNESCO is to cut annual funding to the IGCP, currently about US$200,000, by almost half from 2006. The IGCP should still receive about $90,000 a year from the International Union of Geological Sciences.

Walter Erdelen, UNESCO's assistant director-general for natural sciences, confirmed that there are plans to substantially reduce the programme, although he would not say by how much. He says UNESCO's science activities are focusing on water and ecology, following a reduction in the total budget for 2006.

This focus is fine, says Sospeter Muhongo, a geologist at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and newly elected chairman of the IGCP's scientific board. But he adds that geologists would have much to contribute to such work.

Members of the IGCP's scientific board issued a joint communication last week appealing to UNESCO to maintain current levels of funding. “Drastic cuts would be demoralizing,” says Muhongo. A final decision will be made at UNESCO's executive board meeting in April.

Since 1972, some 500 regional geological and mining-related projects in 150 countries have received seed funding of up to $10,000 from the IGCP. Although other projects exist to help geoscientists in developing countries (see Nature 433, 449; 200510.1038/433449a), geologists say that the community will be sad to see one of the most established programmes cut.

“Almost all of the impact will be on scientists from developing nations,” says Douglas Erwin, a palaeontologist at the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of Natural History in Washington DC. “It is short-sighted for UNESCO to do this.”

Additional reporting by Rex Dalton, San Diego.