Cancelling Antarctic climate research will damage Australia’s reputation, experts say

The Labor government maintains it has not cut the Antarctic program’s budget, but is instead requiring it to meet its existing funding commitments. Photograph: Greg Stone/PR image

Australia’s international reputation and diplomatic influence will be damaged unless the federal government intervenes to ensure crucial climate change research in Antarctica is not cancelled, international lawyers and environmentalists have warned.

The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, is also facing political pressure from the Greens and the Coalition, which have both raised concerns about plans to cancel or heavily restrict studies of record-low sea ice, ice shelves and declining penguin populations due to a budget crunch.