Enacting shared responsibility in biosecurity governance: insights from adaptive governance

Amidst an increasingly complex global environment of trade and travel, with heightened concerns for the unintended or deliberate spread of species and diseases, biosecurity is a key policy goal in many parts of the world. In Australia, there is concern that invasive species (plants, animals, and diseases) enter, spread, and establish, threatening local industries such as agriculture, as well as human health and biodiversity. Shared responsibility for biosecurity is a recent policy direction that has gained great traction but requires improved conceptual and practical clarity in how local citizens are co-opted into or experience biosecurity programs. In this paper, we interrogate the framing and enactment of shared responsibility for biosecurity, propose a repositioning informed by attributes of adaptive governance that involves a clearer structuring of partnerships, and illustrate this through a case example of network-based, passive surveillance. This repositioning is organized around four pillars, where biosecurity is a part of dynamic cosmopolitan territories; enacted through diverse networks; integrating with existing types of knowledge, concerns, and practices; and forming networks of partnership. We consider implications for adaptive governance more generally, centering on structure, power, and decision making

A new approach to horse welfare based on systems thinking

Globally, calls for change in the horse industry to prioritise the health and well-being of domestic horses (Equus caballus) are reaching a critical threshold. Horse behaviour deemed undesirable or inconvenient by owners (henceforth referred to as undesirable behaviour) is reported across all aspects of a horse’s life and may indicate a welfare issue.This study proposes a reconceptualisation of undesirable horse behaviour as a complex challenge based on systems thinking. Emerging from the natural sciences, systems thinking is an interdisciplinary approach to complex challenges (such as undesirable behaviour) as dynamic, highly interconnected networks of components and feedback relationships.This critical literature review examined the undesirable behaviours studied, the disciplines conducting research and their underpinning assumptions to identify opportunities for approaching research differently. Four themes emerged from the literature: undesirable behaviour is typically studied with unarticulated assumptions and in individual disciplines; behaviours are typically studied in isolation with the complexity of horse-human interactions generally not considered; management of behaviour typically has an anthropocentric linear ‘cause and effect’ focus; and solutions to undesirable behaviour are often short-term ‘fixes’ resulting in poor horse outcomes. From these, we outline the opportunities that each provide the next generation of horse research in terms of interdisciplinarity, systems thinking and management. Undesirable horse behaviour in a horse-human system is conceptually mapped in terms of factors associated with the behaviour (eg housing, stress, diet), and the relationships between them. Systems thinking offers a way to integrate multiple disciplines and identify and navigate new solutions to promote horse welfare