ABSTRACT
This chapter examines why the New Zealand government decided to target PAM for eradication. In particular, it examines the social factors that mediated PAM’s reception and argues the government’s response can be partially traced to the prevailing worldview, which conceptualizes the environment as a resource base to satisfy human needs and wants. The government’s response can also be traced to the country’s long history of fending off invasive species, and the economic and ecological costs resulting from those incursions. While the impact of those incursions was often exacerbated by the lack of predators to keep invasive species in check, the impact was further heightened by agriculture and forestry’s reliance on scientific management, which selects the biggest and fastest growing species at the expense of building resilience against pests. By reading this chapter readers will better understand the factors that could trigger a government agency to target a newly arrived species for eradication.
