Entry 102, on 2004-12-14 at 16:11:29 (Rating 2, News)
In New Zealand we have a government department, known as "DoC" or the Department of Conservation, whose mission is to administer our natural land, plants and animals. New Zealand has an image of natural unspoiled beauty which we use in marketing our agricultural exports and tourism industry - New Zealand's two major money earners. I personally think conserving nature is important for its own sake, but even if you are not much of a "greeny" there is still the economic importance of our natural environment to consider.
Because of the importance of DoC I was concerned when I heard that some of their scientists were being laid off in a cost saving exercise. Other staff, who previously did useful work, have been consigned to a desk where they write standard operating procedure manuals.
The New Zealand government has a huge surplus available to them. I'm not aware of any government funding cuts to DoC, but if they exist they are indefensible - I don't mind paying relatively high taxes as long as they are used for worthwhile projects.
More likely the management are carrying out this task, and in the normal bungling manner of managers everywhere they are destroying many of our important conservation programs. In past blog entries I have discussed my disdain for management everywhere. In most businesses incompetent management doesn't matter, but in managing our country's resources it does.
Of course, there is no real accountability when staff reach this level. At least there isn't any with regard to the big picture. Managers targets generally seem to be saving a few dollars here and there, while simultaneously producing huge volumes of bureaucratic paper work to show how efficient they are.
The government id concerned about our scientists and science graduates disappearing overseas. Maybe if they were treated with a bit more respect this would be less of a problem!
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