The Research Strategy for a ‘Predator Free’ New Zealand

Abstract

The goal to make New Zealand ‘Predator Free,’ articulated as the eradication of rats, stoats, and possums by 2050, was announced as a New Zealand government initiative in 2016 and became a founding initiative for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Honolulu Challenge on Invasive Species. A new government owned company, Predator Free 2050 Limited (PF2050 Limited), was formed to coordinate partnership approaches to large landscape projects and breakthrough science. Consultation of both the general public and conservation stakeholders in New Zealand has given strong confidence of majority support for the Predator Free 2050 initiative, and both its target species focus (rats, stoats, and possums) and goal (landscape-scale eradication for the outcome of native biodiversity protection and restoration). A logical and robust process of research strategy development to help realise the Predator Free goals has been ongoing since 2012, when seven priority strategy and research areas were identified at a ‘Pest Summit’ workshop of researchers and stakeholders convened by the New Zealand Department of Conservation. The workshop also highlighted that past improvements in the ability to manage small mammalian pests have been driven by multiple complementary and often synergistic strands of research. The critical learning from such back-casting is that if the Predator Free 2050 goals are to be achieved, a similarly diverse research portfolio is essential moving forwards to drive the paradigm shift from current mainland predator suppression approaches to mainland predator eradication. This learning was implemented in construction first of a research project on small mammal management in the New Zealand’s Biological Heritage National Science Challenge, and, more recently, of PF2050 Limited’s research strategy. With the remit of focusing research efforts to achieve a breakthrough science solution capable of eradicating at least one small mammal predator by 2025, the strategy has four programmes (‘Environment and Society,’ ‘Best Use of Existing Approaches,’ ‘Exploring New Approaches,’ and ‘Computer Modelling’) designed to complement existing efforts to give the whole portfolio of relevant research the best chance of achieving the 2025 goal.