[Taxacom] Rio+20 (was LSID versus names / Rio+20)

[Stephen Thorpe]

Hi Bob,
>That's the subject of an expensive, multi-expert process going on within our conservation bureaucracy. You could save Tasmania a lot of money if you could convince them our threatened species list is a fantasy<
I expect that such expensive efforts are being somewhat wasted by relatively rich First World citizens eager to (be seen to) "save the world", while rainforest continues to be chopped down for profit in tropical Third World countries at an alarming rate. It is the same (as in Australia) in N.Z.: millions spent on making it illegal to collect this beetle or that snail, when there haven't been any confirmed extinctions of anything in a very long time. I'm not saying that Tasmania (or N.Z.) doesn't have "threatened species", just that nothing much is likely to happen to them over the next 50 years or so, and certainly no wholesale destruction of biodiversity, as things are relatively stable in this part of the world. Meanwhile, in other parts of the world most of the human popu;lation increases are happening, etc. I guess I'm saying that, in contrast to charity, conservation does not begin at home! 
Stephen


________________________________
From: Bob Mesibov <mesibov at southcom.com.au>
To: Stephen Thorpe <stephen_thorpe at yahoo.co.nz> 
Cc: "agosti at amnh.org" <agosti at amnh.org>; TAXACOM <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu> 
Sent: Friday, 22 June 2012 11:57 AM
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Rio+20 (was LSID versus names / Rio+20)

Hi, Stephen.

"Having said that, I expect that there will be little or no detectable biodiversity loss in Tasmania over the next 50 years..."

Interesting you say that. That's the subject of an expensive, multi-expert process going on within our conservation bureaucracy. You could save Tasmania a lot of money if you could convince them our threatened species list is a fantasy.

"so, if you are serious about "salvage", perhaps you should consider moving to somewhere more tropical ..."

My wife and I salvage closer to home, in the agricultural parts of Victoria and New South Wales. We did a major trip last September in the Riverina district. Center yourself at -35.6101 146.4609 in Google Earth, zoom out slowly and see if you can spot the pathetically few remnants we salvaged.
-- 
Dr Robert Mesibov
Honorary Research Associate
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, and
School of Agricultural Science, University of Tasmania
Home contact: PO Box 101, Penguin, Tasmania, Australia 7316
Ph: (03) 64371195; 61 3 64371195
Webpage: http://www.qvmag.tas.gov.au/?articleID=570