Engaging the community in biosecurity issues

Protecting the economy, environment and people's lifestyles from pests, weeds and diseases (i.e. biosecurity) is a costly, but important endeavour. Biosecurity is increasingly acknowledged as the responsibility of not only government and industry, but also the community. The Engaging in Biosecurity (EiB) project developed guidelines to engage the community in biosecurity based on learnings from six profiling studies and four trial implementation projects. A theoretical framework was developed to help engagement practitioners engage communities effectively by developing partnerships in formation, design and implementation of biosecurity engagement projects. The framework also involves a monitoring and evaluation component to ensure continual improvement of biosecurity engagement projects. It enables early identification of, and response to, issues and new opportunities. This paper provides an overview of the EiB project's theoretical framework, including the M and E component, with real examples.