Innovations in Institutions to Improve Weed Funding, Strategy and Outcomes

Abstract

In spite of much public and private effort, expenditure and creativity, reports show that the economic and environmental cost of weeds in Australia continues to grow. Australians face the sustainability challenges of a large and bio-diverse country, major resource exploitation industries, and a relatively small pool of funds and human resources to provide for protection and restoration. To effectively manage these combined challenges and ensure the sustainability of the Australian environment and equitable outcomes for Australians in general, Australians need to create legal, social, managerial and economic strategies that are far more effective than those used to date. To do so requires institutional as well as technological innovation. There has been increasing recognition over the past couple of decades that approaches to weed management must include better processes, particularly in engaging people in solutions, as well as more effective application of biophysical and social science. Weeds arrive in Australia and, in large part, continue to spread in Australia because of the activities of people.