Title:
Red tape is choking biodiversity research in South Africa. What can be done about it?
Authors:
Graham Alexander, Professor of Herpetology, Environmental Physiology and Physiology, Ecology and Evolution, University of the Witwatersrand
Bryan Maritz, Senior Lecturer, Biodiversity and Conservation Biology, University of the Western Cape
Krystal Tolley, Principal Scientist, South African National Biodiversity Institute
Published:
The Conversation, 7 October 2021
From the article:
Given the indisputable value of science, it would seem foolish to obstruct its advancement. Yet impediments to advancements in some fields, such as biodiversity research, have been building over several years.
This is true in South Africa, where the burden of red tape has increased over the last decade, obstructing even some of the most basic forms of data collection. In a recent commentary, authored by more than 30 of South Africa’s field and biodiversity researchers, we set out the scale of the problem.