Biosecurity in multifunctional landscapes: challenges for approaches based on the concept of 'shared responsibility'.

Biosecurity policy in NSW is based on the concept of 'shared responsibility' that emphasises small government and devolution of responsibility to stakeholders. This paper draws on a case study of the cattle tick program to illustrate the challenges for governments implementing a 'shared responsibility' biosecurity strategy in the multifunctional rural landscapes that are now typical of the more closely settled regions of south-eastern Australia. Agriculture may remain the dominant land use in these regions but other values underpin landownership and management for an increasing proportion of landholders who are not farmers by occupation, are disconnected from traditional producer networks, and often lack the knowledge and skills to effectively manage biosecurity threats. We describe the challenges posed by multifunctionality including a high property turnover rate, rapidly increasing rural land values, in-migration of new landholders and multiple landholder types holding different values and beliefs that influence their cattle tick management practices. We suggest ways biosecurity programs within a 'shared responsibility' framework can more effectively engage producers. These include negotiating with industry or a representative body the level of responsibility and management decisions being delegated, and to building the social and human capital of landholders taking into account the specific information and training needs of new and non-farmer landholders in addition to cattle tick management.

Factors affecting community-agency trust before, during and after a wildfire: an Australian case study.

Trust has been identified as a critical relationship component in contexts of high uncertainty and complexity such as wildfire management, and as a primary factor in public support for wildland fire management strategies. However, little attention has been paid to identifying and comparing factors across fire management stages (i.e. before, during, after a fire) that may influence trust between community members and fire management agencies. This paper attempts to address this gap by exploring factors affecting community-agency trusting relationships before, during and after a wildfire event. We draw upon 26 semi-structured interviews with 38 residents of a community directly impacted by fires in December 2006 and January 2007 in Victoria, Australia. Communication, cooperation, trustworthiness, and integration of local concerns and knowledge influenced trust in more than one fire management stage. Institutional structures and reduction of uncertainty were particularly strong influences during a fire. After a fire, resolving negative outcomes and immediately meeting perceived needs arising from the fire were factors unique to this stage.

The influence of cognitive processes on rural landholder responses to climate change.

Global climate change modelling has identified south-east Australia as a 'hot spot' for more frequent climatic extremes. Rural landholders may be vulnerable to the risks climate change presents. Australia's rural landholders are considered highly adaptable, with a history of responding to climatic uncertainty and variability. Yet it is possible that some of their adaptations will not be effective in reducing vulnerability, and may have downstream impacts. Rural landholder decision making is complex, and this is one of a limited number of papers examining rural landholder responses to climate change and the factors influencing their decisions. Data were gathered using semi-structured interviews and a mail survey of rural landholders in two districts. Established socio-psychological scales were employed to measure beliefs, values and attitudes that are expected to shape landholder behaviour. Most of the rural landholders surveyed were not climate change 'deniers' with 70% agreeing that the climate is changing and that human activity is a major influence. Climate change was nominated as an influence on six adaptive behaviours by 50% or more of survey respondents. However, there were no significant relationships between belief in climate change and adaptive actions. Personal values and worldviews were found to be the most frequent factors linked to adaptive behaviour. These findings illustrate the complex nature of rural landholder decision making: suggesting that many rural landholders do not need convincing of the existence of climate change; and that efforts to motivate rural landholders to respond to climate change risks should be based on sound knowledge of their values and worldviews.

Nipped in the bud: why regional scale adaptive management is not blooming.

Adaptive management is an approach to managing natural resources that emphasizes learning from the implementation of policies and strategies. Adaptive management appears to offer a solution to the management gridlock caused by increasing complexity and uncertainty. The concept of adaptive management has been embraced by natural resource managers worldwide, but there are relatively few published examples of adaptive management in use. In this article, we explore two watershed management projects in southeastern Australia to better understand the potential of adaptive management in regional scale programs through qualitative, case study-based investigation. The program logic of one case implies the use of passive adaptive management, whereas the second case claims to be based on active adaptive management. Data were created using participant observation, semistructured interviews with individuals and groups, and document review. Using thematic content and metaphor analysis to explore the case data, we found that each case was successful as an implementation project. However, the use of both passive and active adaptive management was constrained by deeply entrenched social norms and institutional frameworks. We identified seven "imperatives" that guided the behavior of project stakeholders, and that have consequences for the use of adaptive management. Reference to recent evaluations of the Adaptive Management Areas of the Pacific Northwest of the United States suggests that some of these imperatives and their consequences have broad applicability. The implications of our findings are discussed, and suggestions for improving the outcomes of regional scale adaptive management are provided.

Integrating spatially referenced social and biophysical data to explore landholder responses to dryland salinity in Australia.

Researchers attempting to integrate socio-economic data in watershed planning often draw on nationally collected census data. However, there are critical limitations to the usefulness of this type of data for decision makers operating at the watershed scale. In this paper we demonstrate the relevance of spatially referenced socio-economic data collected using mail surveys to random selections of rural landholders. The issue explored was dryland salinity management in two large watersheds in the Murray-Darling Basin of south-eastern Australia. Contrary to the assumptions underlying public policy in Australia, but consistent with the literature on farmer knowledge, comparisons of expert maps and landholder identified salinity sites suggested that landholders in these watersheds had excellent knowledge of the current extent of salinity on their property. Our research also suggested that salinity education was a sound investment by governments. At the same time, the expert maps failed to predict half of the saline affected sites identified by landholders. Accurately mapping the extent of salinity would seem a first step in addressing this nationally significant land degradation issue.

Maintaining volunteer commitment to local watershed initiatives.

Australia's Landcare program is advanced as a successful international example of local watershed groups and governments working together to improve natural resource management. One of the aspects considered critical in the success of watershed groups is engaging widespread participation. This paper draws on two regional surveys that explored burnout, or loss of engagement, among Landcare participants in the state of Victoria using the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Survey findings indicated that a large proportion of respondents were experiencing high burnout in terms of low personal accomplishment and suggested that there was potential for burnout to increase. The authors suggest that the expectations of watershed groups must be based around a realistic assessment of the capacity for volunteer groups to deliver improved environmental and social outcomes.