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NSF Environmental Research and Education Lags in FY 2005 Budget
Funding for the Environmental Research and Education (ERE) portfolio of the National Science Foundation (NSF) would decline by 0.2 percent—to $932.2 million—under the President's budget request for FY 2005 (Table 1). This is the first time that ERE funding would decline since the National Science Board identified environmental research as one of NSF's "highest priorities" in 2000. In contrast to the proposed cut for ERE funding, the total NSF budget would increase by 3 percent in FY 2005. The ERE portfolio is a crosscutting "virtual directorate" that coordinates environmental activities across the entire agency.
The 2000 National Science Board (NSB) report, Environmental Science and Engineering for the 21st Century: The Role of the National Science Foundation, recommended raising NSF's ERE budget 167 percent, from approximately $600 million to $1.6 billion over a period of five years. The report directs NSF to develop budget requests that are consistent with this recommendation.
The lagging growth of the Environmental Research and Education budget relative to the total NSF budget in recent years raises serious concerns about its status as one of the agency's "highest priorities." In the years immediately following the National Science Board report, growth in the ERE budget reflected its priority status: from FY 1999 to 2001 the ERE account grew more rapidly than the overall NSF budget (30.7 percent for ERE versus 20.3 percent for total NSF). However, the ERE growth rate has trailed the total NSF growth rate since that time (Table 2). From FY 2002 to FY 2005 (request), the ERE budget grew by only 13.1 percent while the total NSF budget grew by 20.3 percent. For the entire period from FY 1999 to 2005 (request), the ERE budget grew by 56.6 percent - an increase that is almost indistinguishable from NSF's overall growth of 55.7 percent over the same interval.
The National Science Board proposed a 167 percent increase for environmental research and education in the context of doubling the overall NSF budget. The doubling has not materialized. Nevertheless, the lagging growth of the Environmental Research and Education portfolio relative to the total NSF budget in recent years is surprising in light of the recommendation of the National Science Board, which is the agency's governing body.
All of NSF's disciplinary directorates include support for ERE, with the majority in Geosciences (55 percent) and Biological Sciences (23 percent). According to the FY 2005 budget request, ERE funding in the Engineering directorate would decrease by $2.0 million, and ERE funding in all other Directorates would remain flat. The budget for every disciplinary directorate would increase under the FY 2005 budget request, but the budget for the ERE component would not increase. After several years of rapid growth, funding for the priority area on Biocomplexity in the Environment—the flagship program of the ERE portfolio—would be flat at $99.8 million in FY 2005.
For more information please contact Dr. Craig Schiffries at schiffries@NCSEonline.org or 202-530-5810.
1Data in this table reflect updated budget information received from NSF May 7, 2004.
Craig Schiffries, Director of Science Policy
National Council for Science and the Environment
1707 H Street, NW, Suite 200
Washington, DC 20006
Tel: 202-530-5810
Email: policy@NCSEonline.org
Web: www.NCSEonline.org
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