Jamie Steer • Dec 22, 2018 •
This is this idea that we either do this or something that we love dies – what might be referred to as ‘conservation at the barrel of a gun’. Here’s another collection of quotes from the feedback to Kim Hill again – the last one most notably being from one of New Zealand’s foremost conservation biologists: ‘By accepting many introduced … Read More
Jamie Steer • Dec 18, 2018 •
We still very often retain this belief that we can put the bits of our fallen humpty dumpty back together again; that we can restore what we’ve lost. Nature, in this respect, is still often presented as this relatively static puzzle that is waiting for us to make it whole again. Unfortunately what the science of the last 30 … Read More
Jamie Steer • Dec 17, 2018 •
This is the idea that people have upset the balance or equilibrium of nature, but that we can return that balance in future if appropriate steps are taken. This belief is very much supported in New Zealand by this notion that our environment is Gondwanan and that it hasn’t changed much in the last 80 million years. Or if … Read More
Jamie Steer • Dec 16, 2018 •
We often frame our relationship with introduced species in New Zealand this way – as a war, a fight, a battle. And there are plenty of examples of it, most recently in the Department of Conservation’s ‘War on Weeds’ or its ‘Battle for our Birds’. War metaphors feature prominently in both popular and scientific literatures in New … Read More
Jamie Steer • Dec 15, 2018 •
‘It’s hard to swallow giving up ur Godzone…’ (Feedback on Kim Hill interview). We have this idea in NZ that our national identity, at least when it comes to wildlife, is defined almost solely by our native species. Sure, we accept cows and kiwifruit and so on when in farmed or horticultural settings, but with the notable exception of … Read More
Jamie Steer • Dec 14, 2018 •
OK, Number 1 – the first belief for us to look at: that they don’t belong here. With ‘they’ of course being introduced species. Here are a couple of quotes from the feedback to my Kim Hill interview to lead us into this one. ‘We should round up all possums that have eaten more than a certain amount of … Read More
Jamie Steer • Dec 12, 2018 •
Over the next couple of weeks I’m going to be posting a new article each day. Each article will be supported by a short video clip providing much the same content, so you can either read this blog or just watch the clip. This first one’s a little longer but most of the clips will be about 5 minutes … Read More
Jamie Steer • Feb 21, 2018 •
In a recent article in The Spinoff, the Department of Conservation’s Threatened Species Ambassador Nicola Toki makes three arguments. First, that native species and introduced predators in New Zealand cannot co-exist. Second, that conservation should be undertaken not only in sanctuaries, but also on private land. And third, that it is the indigenous subset of our biodiversity that fundamentally … Read More
- Wayne Linklater • Jan 08, 2018 •
Killing predators to reduce their impact is an important part of wildlife conservation in New Zealand. It delivers good outcomes for biodiversity, especially for our birds and reptiles. It does not logically or scientifically follow, however, that attempting to eradicate predators from ALL of New Zealand is also a good idea. Indeed, some scientists think that a national … Read More
Guest Author • May 31, 2017 •
By Prof Phil Seddon, University of Otago. The newly released report from the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (Taonga of an island nation) highlights the precarious state of our native avifauna, with one in five of our 168 native bird species at risk of extinction. Birds are highly visible but also highly vulnerable indicators of habitat change, not just … Read More