India, March 2 -- The dismissal of hundreds of researchers and meteorologists at the US's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) should come as no shock to the world given how Donald Trump has championed climate denialism. So, more than what Trump will do next, the question those in the global community invested in averting catastrophic planetary warming should ask is how best to prevent further unravelling of the climate consensus and safeguard mitigation efforts. This, of course, includes insulating climate science and research from US pullouts and active obstruction.

The NOAA firings can be a test case. The agency's severely depleted strength will dent climate monitoring, research, and modelling given it plays a strate...