Veja nesta edição do boletim eletrônico:
1. Moção do CD/CNPq sobre a portaria 328/98
2. Artigo na SCIENCE Sobre Contenção de Verbas para C&T
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1. MOÇÃO DO CD/CNPQ SOBRE A PORTARIA 328/98
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Por solicitação do Professor Fernando Galembeck, Membro
do CD do CNPq, reproduzimos a Moção divulgada pelo Conselho
Deliberativo referente à portaria 328/98.
"Neste momento de extrema gravidade para todo o sistema de C&T no
país - gravidade extrema que levou o próprio presidente do
CNPq a promulgar portaria suspendendo, por falta de recursos, senão
os de bolsas, qualquer autorização de despesa por parte da
Agencia, nestas circunstâncias de crise financeira internacional
em que o país é obrigado a viver sob
medidas de contenção extrema dos orçamentos governamentais,
que atingem drasticamente os programas sociais e reduzem em mais de 140
milhões o orçamento do CNPq, nesta conjuntura de falta e
de cortes no financiamento dos programas de pesquisa e desenvolvimento,
é fundamental que todos nos unamos no esforço de recuperação
de melhores condições de funcionamento dos mecanismos
de fomento no Brasil.
Nesse sentido, o CD do CNPq, na reunião extraordinária
do dia 05/11/98, aprovou moção em defesa do sistema de C&T,
destacando não só a necessidade de recuperarmos urgentemente
os níveis adequados da capacidade de investimento dos órgãos
de fomento, mas também e sobretudo a urgência de que se estabeleçam
formas regulares, autônomas e previsíveis para o funcionamento
do sistema de C&T, que, entre os males da falta de recursos que ora
vivência, cronicamente padece dos sobressaltos e do improviso que
geram inquietação e instabilidade na comunidade científica.
Assim, o CD do CNPq vem instar os órgãos governamentais
responsáveis pela gestão do sistema de C&T a que façam
promover, com a mesma urgência, um seminário de reflexão
e trabalho, com a participação de todos os setores
concernidos pelo processo de produção de P&D no Brasil,
para que se discutam os propósitos e a gestão desse sistema
suas regras, seu modus operandi, suas metodologias e conceitos, a operacionalidade,
enfim, que permitirá aumentar-lhe a qualidade eficiente e a eficácia
dos resultados.
Convencidos de que saberemos superar este momento difícil, temos,
contudo, a convicção de que é preciso preservar, com
medidas institucionais duradouras, a integridade do sistema de C&T,
garantindo-lhe condições de dotação, planejamento
e execução condizentes com o papel que é cada vez
mais chamado a desempenhar no processo de desenvolvimento do país."
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2.ARTIGO NA SCIENCE SOBRE CONTENÇÃO DE VERBAS PARA C&T
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SCIENCE FUNDING:
Brazil's Budget Crunch Crushes Science
Cassio Leite Vieira
Two cuts in the 1998 science budget, followed last week by an announced
cut in the 1999 budget, have brought many science projects to a halt RIO
DE JANEIRO--It's more than 90F outside. But no one turns on the air conditioner
in the stuffy room in the Brazilian Center for Physics Research (CBPF)
here, where representatives of Brazil's science establishment are meeting
to discuss how to save the nation's scientific institutions from collapse
in the midst of Brazil's economic downturn.
With a budget deficit expected to reach 900,000 reais ($750,000) in
January, the research center can't afford to cool its offices or conference
rooms. "Our fear is that we will have to pay our bills out of next year's
budget allocation," says João dos Anjos, CBPF's assistant director.
The physics center is not alone. Cutbacks in electrical use are common
in cash-starved Brazilian universities and research centers these days.
To meet the demands of the International Monetary Fund and other foreign
lenders, who last week approved a $41.5 billion loan package, the free-spending
Brazilian government cut its 1998 budget this fall, and it has agreed to
slash its 1999 budget by $7.3 billion. As a result, on 10 November, the
government announced that next year (the fiscal year begins in January),
the science ministry will receive $619.4 million--18.7% less than
it had requested.
The spiral began in earnest on 8 September, when the treasury department
cut $160 million from the science ministry's already tight 1998 budget
of $747 million. A second decree, issued on 30 October, trimmed another
5%. These cuts have pushed many universities and laboratories to the brink
of insolvency, and with next year's budget now set well below the
original 1998 level, little relief is in sight. The Conselho Nacional
de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq), the country's principal
science funding agency, has distributed no new money for research in 1998.
The only research funds available have come from the science ministry and
from now-depleted state agencies. Only wealthy São Paulo still funds
research, and the federal science ministry's direct support is limited
to $50 million for multiyear, multisite projects.
Several ministers have rallied congressional support to minimize cuts
in their 1999 budgets, but the science minister has not been among the
lucky ones. "It's at times like this that science loses out, because we
have no lobby," says Otávio Velho, anthropology professor at the
National Museum of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
Particularly hard hit is the CNPq. The science ministry slashed CNPq's
1998 budget from $479 million to $361 million--a 25% drop. It's been 2
months since the CNPq has paid bills for electricity, water, cleaning and
security services, and rent for its headquarters in Brasilia, capital of
Brazil.
The agency oversees 10 scientific institutes, and no program has been
spared the knife. The National Observatory expects to end the year with
a debt of $210,000, including unpaid utility bills. Brazil's observation
time on the La Silla telescope in Chile is scheduled for December, and
astronomers are planning to pay travel and lodging out of their own pockets.
Failure to show up could break Brazil's agreement with the European Southern
Observatory, which administers the telescope, and cost
Brazil the right to take part in the project. The observatory lacks
the money even to pay for the gasoline needed to travel by car to a local
telescope.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Federal Expenditures on science and technology in Brazil (1990-1997)
(thousands of 1995 U.S.$)
Year Expenditure Percent of
1995
1990 2277.9
93
1991 2145.5
87
1992 1635.2
67
1993 2288.8
93
1994 2466.8
100
1995 2457.0
100
1996 2350.9
96
1997 2311.0
94
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The situation is not much better in many of Brazil's universities.
The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest public university
in the country, cannot pay its telephone and electricity bills. And other
public universities report similar straits. Especially galling to many
scientists was a directive, issued on 16 October by CNPq's president, José
Galizia Tundisi, freezing funds for most new research and postgraduate
fellowships and requiring the return of airline tickets that had already
been issued. The agency also canceled funding for about 30 scientific meetings
planned for the coming months. These measures drew sharp protests from
the scientific community, prompting the science ministry to issue a statement
on 5
November to try to calm things down. "We guarantee the same number
of fellowships in 1999 as we had this year, and grant payments will continue
to be made on time," promised Lindolpho de Carvalho Dias, interim minister
for science and technology. (Science minister Israel Vargas was out of
the country.)
While researchers throughout most of Brazil are tightening their belts,
they are casting envious glances at their colleagues in the state of São
Paulo. The richest state in Brazil, São Paulo gives 1% of its state
tax receipts to the Foundation for Support of Research of the State of
São Paulo (known as Fapesp). As a result, from 1998 to 1999, Fapesp's
budget will increase $16.8 million to about $295 million--the equivalent
of 45% of the federal science ministry's entire 1999 budget. This has led
some researchers to argue for a sharp reduction in São Paulo's share
of federal postgraduate and research fellowship funds. But Carvalho Dias
promised last week that São Paulo's fellowship funds will not be
raided.
Carvalho Dias also offered some solace to scientists working in un-air-conditioned
offices. Unpaid utility bills at the nation's premier research institutes
and their libraries will be covered by the end of the year, he said. If
só, the group that meets at CBPF each Tuesday to discuss the financial
crisis afflicting the country's science may at least get some relief from
Brazil's summer heat.
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Cassio Leite Vieira is a science writer in Rio de Janeiro.
Volume 282, Number 5393 Issue of 20 Nov 1998, pp. 1403 - 1404
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Secretaria Geral SBQ
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