[Taxacom] The economics of biodiversity initiatives

[Fred Schueler]

Quoting Bob Mesibov <mesibov at southcom.com.au>:

> So where are the hard-nosed, penny-pinching bean counters who  
> *should* be testing each project proposal, asking not only why it's  
> value for money, but also whether it duplicates or only marginally  
> extends existing services (I'm thinking of BioVel)? The issue here  
> isn't whether the money should be going instead to real research,  
> but how and why the very large number of acronyms get funded at all.

* just a priori, one wouldn't expect hard-nosed, penny-pinching bean  
counters to be able to evaluate such projects. What they need, as in  
so many interfaces of scientific and nonscientific society, is robust  
peer review of the operation of the projects on an ongoing basis.

I rarely use these services, so I'm not acquainted with the problems  
discussed here, but in Canada there are very analogous problems with  
bureaucrats unacquainted with the taxa involved being charged with the  
issuing of collecting permits, or with releasing gov't-held data for  
research or conservation.

fred.
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