Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Workshops and Internet-based resources have been used to raise awareness
and generate public support for the programme.
See: Australian Weeds Strategy—A national strategy for weed management
in Australia. Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council (2006).
Australian Government Department of the Environment and Water
Resources, Canberra ACT. http://www.weeds.org.au/docs/Australian_Weeds_
Strategy.pdf. h e bridal creeper website: http://www.ento.csiro.au/weeds/
bridalcreeper
7.4 Conclusions
This chapter has explored why the public needs to be fully involved in IAS man-
agement and a Model for Public Participation was proposed. Whilst public
participation and adoption of the most appropriate mode is essential for maximiz-
ing the success of IAS management and protecting biodiversity and community
livelihoods, public participation is not without its own challenges. Key ones
include:
Scepticism: a perception that the public involvement is tokenism will result in
poor uptake by the public.
Lack of resources: as time demands on the public at large become greater the
availability of time and resources to actually respond to the opportunity to
participate will be challenged.
Apathy: while in many countries there is a growing environmental awareness,
there remains a signifi cant amount of apathy to overcome to release the com-
bined energies of the whole public.
Animal rights concerns: unfortunately one of the key tools of IAS manage-
ment is eradication of species. Every effort must be made to ensure the ethical
considerations are fully addressed and the public concern with animal rights
and humane behaviour during control operations are assuaged.
As the Public Participation Model has demonstrated, the issue of IAS manage-
ment will be successfully addressed by an approach that combines an appropriate
suite of initiatives across the spectrum of public involvement from passive activities
to those totally community-owned. h e foundation for enabling the IAS manage-
ment community to address the problem is mainstreaming the issue of IAS.
To borrow the concept of 'Crossing the Chasm' from the sphere of technology
adoption (Moore 1999), IAS can be considered to still be in the early adopter phase
of its life cycle.
 
 
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