Multilevel stakeholder networks for Australian marine biosecurity: well-structured for top-down information provision, requires better two-way communication

Abstract

The structure of stakeholder networks impacts the ability for environmental governance to fulfil core functions: share information; agree on problem framing and actions; and resolve conflict. Managing pest and disease incursions presents particular challenges. Rapid coordination of action is needed in times of crisis, but any hope of success during crisis requires a foundation of ongoing communication and surveillance. Recent Australian strategic planning for marine biosecurity identified the critical role of an independent national marine pest network in providing ongoing communication. We surveyed stakeholders in the existing marine pest network to map how they share information. Constructing a multilevel, directed network, with 304 organizations and 12 policy forums, we applied statistical network theory to identify which subnetwork configuration patterns were present more or less than by chance. We mapped configurations against how they shape the network's propensity for information sharing. What we found was a marine pest network with a predisposition for bridging; evidence of hubs for both provision and receiving of information; and organizations reporting greater levels of information provision to others compared to receiving information. Our assessment is that the network is well structured for top-down information provision, but that a more sustainable network will require attention to building two-way communication particularly with community groups.

Emerging advances in biosecurity to underpin human, animal, plant, and ecosystem health

“…Assessments of merit should take into account the inherent worth of the system, the services (financial or cultural) it provides to people, and/or the meaningfulness of relationships between people and the system at risk, such as cultural identities of indigenous people derived from their connection to the land. 65 Environmental, economic, social, and cultural value systems are derived from various sources covering a wide suite of domains including both evidence-based understanding and perceptual belief. Engagement methodologies for ensuring minimum disruption to local cultural practices or their adaptation with new invasive alien species are required to ensure community preferences and practices are integrated into any management plans.…”

‘Bunkering down’: How one community is tightening social‐ecological network structures in the face of global change

“…While the risk hypothesis has attracted considerable attention over the last decade, and many studies have supported its basic expectations (Alexander et al, 2018; Angst & Hirschi, 2017; McAllister et al, 2020), the hypothesis is limited in a number of ways. First, research has not always empirically supported the clear expectations of the original risk hypothesis.…”

Biopollution by Invasive Marine Non-Indigenous Species: A Review of Potential Adverse Ecological Effects in a Changing Climate

“…The rationale for the principle is generally that the conjectured costs of not taking action are much greater than the known costs of preventative or anticipatory action [ 202 ]. This approach entails careful and well-organised communication [ 203 ] to the public and the notion that only individual and social behaviour changes [ 204 ] can succeed in obtaining the desired results in mitigating the threat by bioinvasions.…”