As an ecological consultant who has high standards I have been reading this
thread with interest. As proof of my high standards I was once told by a
consulting firm that if my reports weren't so 'hard' that they would give me
much more work. I asked whether they wanted me to fudge the results or tell
lies but they insisted that they only wanted reports that weren't so 'hard'.
I have been in consultation with the North Coast Environment Council who are
pushing for accreditation and a scheme that will break the link between the
developer and the consultant. The problem with accreditation is that even
the 'bad guys' can look good on paper and who is going to have the ability
to remove their accreditation if they do shoddy work? And what is shoddy
work? If a consultant ticks all of the boxes and decides that there will
not be significant impact on threatened species it is often hard to argue
otherwise. The definition of 'significant impact' is vague and leads to a
variety of interpretations.
The other problem with accreditation is that it is costly to manage and is
heavily bureaucratic and the consultants will end up paying for it. That is
OK if you are a large national or multinational company and can afford
hundreds of dollars for accreditation additional to animal care and ethics
fees and the multitude of insurances. It will only serve to squeeze out the
small, and often ethical, local consultants.
I believe that the problem needs to be fixed at the beginning and at the end
of the process where consultants are firstly given clear guidelines as to
what is required (survey effort) and the determining authority (DECC,
Council) needs to have qualified ecologists on staff who can determine if
the project is likely to have significant impact and to reject reports that
are sub-standard. Developers will get tired of paying consultants for
reports that do not meet the standards and will engage consultants who
prepare reports that are of high standard, even if reluctantly.
The legislation and the system allow shoddy consultants to prosper not the
fact that consultants are engaged by developers. I have done many jobs for
developers who aren't particularly green but I have convinced them that if
they want their project to be seriously considered then they will need
ecological reports of a high standard.
Dr Greg Clancy
Ecological Consultant
Coutts Crossing
|
