A strategy for managing biosecurity across borders

Chapter 12 integrates and analyzes the significant parts of all the preceding chapters. This process involves especially the contribution each chapter makes to the research on the areas of the matrix that have been its focus. The next section of the chapter sets out a way of looking at the complexities in an attempt to provide the beginnings of a holistic strategy for managing biosecurity. The intent in presenting such a proposed strategy is to provide a starting point – a ‘way in’ if you like – for all stakeholders in the biosecurity endeavor – policy personnel at all levels of governance, planners and regional developers, non-government organizations, community groups and individuals, to realistically plan localized strategies that ‘fit’ national constraints and ‘fit’ the way people live their lives. Lansing (2006) cautions about the limitations of a single analytic approach to solving complex problems where the entire social order is implicated in potential solutions. In putting forward a ‘strategy’, therefore, we must ensure that we consider the value of all disciplines and cultural perspectives on a problem that is fundamentally a multidisciplinary and global issue. At the same time, we are aware that such a strategy is always subject to local contextual factors and influences, and should therefore be regarded as a tool for use in planning processes, but not a ‘step-by-step, how-to’ manual.