They chose France as a land of scientific asylum. The University of Aix-Marseille, which appealed to US researchers, welcomed several scientists this Thursday, June 26, called southern France for three years.
A direct consequence of reception of the science policy led by Donald Trump and his administration from his return to the White House on January 20. Dismissal of federal researchersdrastic cuts in funds or even banish words related to climate change … Science is the objective of an unprecedented purge. And the Big Blue is no exception.
“The Trump administration is trying to make us enemies”
At the beginning of the month, while Emmanuel Macron requested “mobilization” to Save the oceans “boiling” From the Ocean Summit in Nice, on the other side of the Atlantic, drastic cuts are provided in the federal agency responsible for studying them, the Oceanic and Atmospheric National Administration (NOAA).
Donald Trump’s 2026 budget bill is considering a reduction in the general financing of this agency, pillar of the global climate, climate and marine resources, more than $ 1.5 billion. “The budget ends a series of research, climate -centered data,” said the Trump administration.
Since January, around 2,200 NOAA employees have been fired according to the US CBS News channel. Among them, Tom Di Libeto, a climatologist who became a federal agency spokesman in 2023, contacted by BFMTV.com. He was put at the door on February 27, ten days before the end of his trial period set in March 2025, receiving a simple email that indicates that his “skills and skills no longer corresponded to the needs of the agency.”
If the researcher, who participated in several police officers, suspected that he was “in the line of vision” in the previous days the reception of this email, and even “before the elections”, it was “difficult to accept” the news. “I was sad and angry, for me and for all the other farewell people. Our only mistake is to have been hired in the previous two years and work on issues related to the oceans, climate and climate change,” deplores.
“The Trump administration has clearly said that it does not accept the scientific reality of climate change, but also wants to guarantee that no one can study the climate,” says Tom Di Liberto, who established climatic and climatic forecasts for NOAA since 2010. A “dream” of his childhood.
“It seems that we are punished for simply following what the data and evidence suggest,” he concludes. “The Trump administration is trying to make us enemies, while all we are trying to do is help others.” Despite his 15 years of service, he has been left less than 1:15 to take the door.
A loss of knowledge
The scientific community is concerned about the repercussions of the “attacks” of the Republican billionaire beyond the US borders because many research projects are internationalized. In France, the French Research Institute for Sea Exploitation (IFREMER) is directly affected by brushing strokes inside the NOAA.
20% of their publications “are signed with an American partner and, in the first place, with the NOAA”, they are moving forward to our world colleagues who remember the restrictions of the exchanges imposed in mid -February to the scientists of the agency with foreign partners. “All this delays our work and the knowledge group,” said Daily Fabrice Pernet, Marine Biology Researcher at Ifremer.
“Research projects aimed at better understanding the impact of climate change at regional and global scale will be interrupted by American experts. This will inevitably have the effect of reducing the amount of knowledge that scientists around the world can acquire,” said Tom Di Liberto.
Remember that NOAA, with its “geostationary satellites that cover approximately half of the planet” and its “buoys networks that monitor the oceans”, is “one of the largest climatic data tanks in the world.”
Your fear? That the agency “can no longer collect as many data as before.” However, “if an observation is not made at this time, it is lost forever,” warns the scientist who fears that this data leak prevents anticipation and preparation for the multiplication of extreme climatic phenomena.
What also worries James (*The first name has been changed), a former federal scientist who works locally before being fired, interviewed by BFMTV.com.
“The science we do currently does not know how useful 50 or 100 years,” abounds the limnologist.
“Especially today, with climate change and speed with which things are evolving, it is more important than ever investing and developing science instead of trying to reduce it,” he says.
A game to Europe?
The ecosystems specialist who requested anonymity was put at the door on February 14, three months after his new postcard at a federal agency. “I received a message from my superior who told me to see him in his office, and I was fired,” said the researcher originally hired for a four -year contract. “My superior helped me keep all my things, and I left, immediately after the meeting in his office,” he said. “It was devastating.”
“I knew that the Trump administration would come, but I didn’t think it was going to be so intense so fast. I think many people did not expect all this to happen,” said James, who had expressly moved for this new work.
Six of his colleagues, also during the trial period, were placed in the mosaic. Thanks to a judicial decision, they were offered to resume their publication. What the scientist rejected. “I decided not to accept this offer, because I think the situation will become even more chaotic before becoming stable again,” he said.
With his more than ten years of experience in aquatic sciences, James has found a position, outside the Federal Department. If you confess to having planned to work in Europe, where US researchers are welcome with open arms, it will not go.
“My whole family is here, this type of decision is difficult to make. So, I think there is still a scientific architecture here in the United States. I have hope, in me and in my colleagues,” said the biologist.
“A global problem that can only be solved by the global community”
A hope shared by Tom Di Liberto, for whom the future American scientist is no longer based on the government, but on “non -profit organizations, the private sector, the university world.”
Still looking for work in his country, the former climate spokesman within NOAA does not intend to give up. “The reason I started in this area, in addition to the love for the atmosphere and the clouds that I have had since my eight years, I do not like people to get injured,” he explains.
“However, if I no longer communicate about the risks we face, millions and millions of people will be affected,” he said.
Come to Europe with his wife and two children is not on the agenda. “My wife and I talk about that, but you can’t leave your job here. If so, I would be happy to go where the investigation continues,” says the climatologist. “Climate change is a global problem that can only be solved by the global community.”
Source: BFM TV
