ENVIRONMENT AND CONSERVATION ORGANISATIONS OF NEW ZEALAND (INC.)
P O Box 11-057, Wellington, New Zealand
126 Vivian Street, Wellington
Phone/Fax +64 4 385 7545
E-mail: ecooffice@inspire.net.nz
Website: http://www.eco.org.nz
21 April 2008 – Media Release – Wellington
Conservation Job Losses for Trade Deals
Marine Unit Pulped
The substantial job losses pending at the Department of Conservation come just days after the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs gained huge amounts of extra funding, particularly in the area of Trade negotiations and foreign posts, says the
Environment and Conservation Organisations of NZ Inc (ECO).
“The government is showing that it is happy to sacrifice the conservation of New Zealand and ours seas, our native
species and our heritage as a trade off for increasing the number of diplomats and for upgrading Foreign Affairs’ real
estate, says Cath Wallace of ECO.
“The Department of Conservation is to lose over 50 staff positions, as it tries to save $8million, to balance its
already critically stretched budget which blew out because of extra fires, a slight increase in salaries and other
costs.
“Contrast this with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) which has an operating budget at present of
$278million. It will get $523million extra operating budget spread over the next 5 years, an extra $104million per
year, and a further capital injection of $98million, according to a speech last week from Hon Winston Peters, Minister
of Foreign Affairs, at the Institute of International Affairs event in Wellington.
It is clear that the government is pursuing trade deals well ahead of conservation which has always been grossly
underfunded anyway, says Wallace.
“The Department of Conservation is likely to lose 50-60 positions, with about half in the regions and about half in head
office. Marine conservation technical capacity, science and policy seem to be being especially hard hit, even though
these are already critically under resourced.
It is a very sad day for conservation. ECO calls for the Cabinet to rethink their priorities and for the irreversible
losses of species and ecosystems to be addressed with more, not less funding.
ends