Post by Kiwi Frontline on Apr 11, 2019 17:20:17 GMT 12
THE CLASH BETWEEN SCIENCE AND SILENCE
A case of a rare beetle, a university and a contract clause is emblematic of a wider issue where commercial contracts can clash with public interest and academic freedom of speech.
Lincoln University was silenced for over two months due to a clause in a research contract with South Island iwi Ngāi Tahu which forced it to seek written permission before speaking publicly.
Repeated attempts by journalists to discover the fate of an endangered beetlecould not be answered by scientists working in the only location they have been found.
The issue relates to the Eyrewell forest in Canterbury, returned to Ngāi Tahu as part of a treaty settlement in 2000. Since its return it’s been stripped of the plantation pine a rare beetle lived in and converted to intensive dairying by Ngāi Tahu Farming. When the conversion is complete the former pine forest will be home to around 14,000 cows......
www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/04/10/522677/the-clash-between-science-and-silence
A case of a rare beetle, a university and a contract clause is emblematic of a wider issue where commercial contracts can clash with public interest and academic freedom of speech.
Lincoln University was silenced for over two months due to a clause in a research contract with South Island iwi Ngāi Tahu which forced it to seek written permission before speaking publicly.
Repeated attempts by journalists to discover the fate of an endangered beetlecould not be answered by scientists working in the only location they have been found.
The issue relates to the Eyrewell forest in Canterbury, returned to Ngāi Tahu as part of a treaty settlement in 2000. Since its return it’s been stripped of the plantation pine a rare beetle lived in and converted to intensive dairying by Ngāi Tahu Farming. When the conversion is complete the former pine forest will be home to around 14,000 cows......
www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/04/10/522677/the-clash-between-science-and-silence