Message From the Director General
After a first decade, in which there has been significant progress for conservation, the Department has taken a hard look at itself and assessed the most important tasks it needs to undertake in the next five years.
This Strategic Business Plan sets out those tasks in a framework of clear goals, objectives and targets. The Goals are organised into three mutually supportive parts:
- specific conservation results;
- more effective community involvement;
- improved departmental capacity.
The plan is intended primarily to provide clear direction to the Department's managers and staff about conservation priorities. It also makes clear to stakeholders what the Department is committing to achieve, what it would like to stretch to achieve - if capacity and resources allow, and what it will not be able to do.
The review of how the Department operates has already led to changes to its structure, management and systems. The Strategic Business Plan is based on the next phase of changes to the Department: continued improvement to systems and operating style; increases in skill levels and an ongoing focus on recruiting; developing and retaining good staff.
The systems changes need to improve the way information and knowledge is managed within the Department, aligning our planning and reporting processes (both internal and external) and strengthening our capacity to judge what is most important and whether our actions are successful. The Department has to be better at showing that its management actions are improving the natural and historic assets of New Zealanders, or at least stemming their decline. This task is complicated by the relatively long time frames that are often involved in measuring conservation changes.
The changes in operating style will focus us on doing a quality job to meet the needs of customers. We will be accountable; we will be open and we will be conscious of risks.
We will also be positive in our work, taking pride in our achievements and recognising successes. This is not just about making the Department a better place to work, although that is very important. Being positive is also a matter of recognising that we conserve New Zealander's natural and historic heritage for people to enjoy now and in the future.
The title of this plan is mine. Restoring the dawn chorus symbolises the challenges we face, not just in conserving the forests and wetlands of our main islands but also with our historic heritage and freshwater and marine environments. It also symbolises the critical conservation features of New Zealand that are now at stake, the best of our positive achievements and that we can enjoy the fruits of our labours and the labours themselves.
Hugh Logan
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