MEDIA RELEASE
7 December 2011 International Congress for Conservation Biology

Scientists’ plea to save endangered DOC staff

(under embargo until 1pm, December 7 2011)

Fears for the future of New Zealand’s vulnerable wilderness and endangered native species as a result of proposed job cuts within the Department of Conservation has prompted more than 100 New Zealand scientists to send a message of protest to the government.

The group of conservation biologists and scientists from universities and institutes around the country was released to the Minister of Conservation MP Kate Wilkinson today, mid-way through the 25th International Congress for Conservation Biology 2011 being held in Auckland this week.

They say the loss of nearly 100 jobs over the next six months will seriously erode the Department of Conservation’s efforts in conservation management and planning, as many species and ecosystems “teeter on the edge of oblivion.”

Signatories to the letter, including eminent scientists such as Emeritus Professor Alan Mark, University of Otago’s Department of Botany, Professor David Lowe, Waikato University’s Earth and Ocean Sciences and Associate Professor Ian Jamieson, Zoology Department, University of Otago, say they are dismayed at the “ongoing reduction in capacity, support and funding for New Zealand conservation” which is undermining the work of dedicated, passionate staff whose expertise has seen iconic species such as the kakapo, takahe, saddleback and Chatham Island robin saved from extinction.

Even amid the current economic challenges, New Zealand needs a well-funded Department of Conservation to ensure its ‘100 % Pure New Zealand’ branding to attract tourists and sell quality agricultural produce is more than just a slogan, they say.

Conservation management and science should be acknowledged, they state, as “a strategic asset for the wealth of all New Zealanders and funded as such.”

“Recessions come and go; extinction is forever,” concludes the message, organised by Emeritus Professor Alan Marks and Dr Kevin Parker, Massey University. It was released in the presence of some 1300 conservation biologists from all over the world attending the congress at Sky City.

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