Exploring the attitudes to and uptake of biosecurity practices for invasive non-native species: views amongst stakeholder organisations working in UK natural environments

Invasive non-native species (INNS) are plants and animals that have been purposefully or accidentally introduced, mainly by human activity (Anderson et al. 2014b), to areas outside of their natural range and have the ability to spread causing damage to the environment, the economy, human health and the way we live (GBNNSS 2015). The term is equivalent to the term Invasive Alien Species used by the IUCN, and may also be used to encompass non-native microbes such as bacteria, viruses and fungi, which negatively impact human, animal and plant health. INNS are increasingly recognised as a significant and potentially very costly threat to environments across the globe, with efforts to control and prevent harm from their growing populations estimated to run into billions of dollars (Anderson et al. 2014b; Mcleod et al. 2015).

Biosecurity is key to preventing and/or slowing the spread of INNS. Biosecurity refers to protection against biological threats (Armstrong and Ball 2005) and is the term given to measures designed to prevent the spread of INNS to new areas. Essentially it involves employing simple hygienic practices including the use of duplicate sets of equipment and employing cleaning measures that ensure environment users do not transfer INNS propagules [individuals released into an environment where they are not native (Lockwood et al. 2005)] between sites on their equipment, vehicles, clothing and footwear (Dunn and Hatcher 2015; Anderson et al. 2014b). The potential gains from achieving widespread adoption of effective biosecurity measures are clear. By preventing the spread of INNS in the first place we can avoid damage to the environment and the expense of implementing control measures, along with the associated ethical complexities concerning extermination. Whilst controls that eliminate INNS in their entirety from invaded areas can be successful, particularly in island contexts, control measures do not always succeed in fully eradicating invaders from areas where they have become established, can themselves cause environmental damage, and do not necessarily result in the successful re-establishment of the native ecosystems that existed prior to invasion (Zavaleta et al. 2001). By contrast, biosecurity avoids these problems and therefore presents a much more attractive option. However, as with any new technology, idea or approach, getting people to adopt biosecurity measures involves a gradual process of behaviour change which may take time to be adopted as a social norm (Rogers 2003). The complexity of social values and very high levels of uncertainty surrounding INNS management (Liu et al. 2011) are likely to complicate the adoption of biosecurity measures by stakeholders.

Regulation 1143/2014 on Invasive Alien Species is the first piece of EU legislation on biodiversity for more than 20 years and entered into force in 28 States on 1st January 2015. Within the regulation three types of intervention are described (prevention, early detection and eradication), and management and co-ordination of responses to INNS, especially across national boundaries, is strongly advised (Genovesi et al. 2015). Biosecurity measures operate at the prevention stage, by reducing the risk of transferring INNS to new areas.

In the UK a large number of terrestrial and aquatic plant and animal species are considered to qualify as INNS and official steps have been taken by government to build capacity to identify and monitor them, undertake control measures and prevent their spread to new areas, most notably through the creation of the GB non-native species secretariat (GBNNSS) in 2006. Recent campaigns launched by Defra (The UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) to encourage public awareness and action on INNS include Check Clean Dry (www.nonnativespecies.org/checkcleandry/) and Be Plant Wise (www.nonnativespecies.org/beplantwise/). Check Clean Dry is aimed at encouraging watercourse users to employ measures to prevent the transfer of aquatic INNS to new areas, with users advised to check their equipment and clothes for the presence of animal or plant fragments, clean them and ensure items dry out thoroughly in between visits to aquatic sites. Be Plant Wise is aimed at pond owners, gardeners and the horticultural trade in aquatic plants for ponds and aquariums and seeks to raise awareness of the negative impacts that can result from allowing ornamental aquatic plants to spread into the wild.

Over the last decade the tide of literature concerning INNS issues has risen, with many articles focusing on questions of ecological and evolutionary interest including species and environmental traits contributing to invasiveness and invasibility (van Kleunen et al. 2010), the consequences of genetic bottlenecks for invading populations (Dlugosch and Parker 2008; Simberloff 2009) and the potential impacts of changes to climate upon invasions (Broennimann et al. 2007; Rahel and Olden 2008). However, despite clearly constituting a socio-ecological problem, to date relatively little has been published about the social dimensions of INNS (García-Llorente et al. 2008) and the influence of humans on the incidence and outcome of invasions. Recent studies have investigated the behaviours of recreational users of waterways in relation to the spread of INNS (Anderson et al. 2014b) and the attitudes and beliefs of recreationists in relation to behaviours that reduce the spread of INNS (Prinbeck et al. 2011). However, where social issues are considered, the majority of research has concerned control measures rather than prevention, with research often exploring public support for action on existing INNS (Schüttler et al. 2011; Shine and Doody 2011). To date research has yet to investigate the attitudes of organisations, which represent key stakeholders working in natural environments, to biosecurity and preventing the spread of INNS.

Today’s globally burgeoning INNS problem is closely related to ever-proliferating levels of human cross-global trade and travel (Bradley et al. 2012; Tobin et al. 2013), and its solutions are likely to face collective action problems. Collective action problems occur when there is conflict between individual and group interests and are widespread in relation to the environment. Individual selfish actions often harm the environment whereas groups benefit from environmental protection, and it often requires groups of people to work together to achieve positive outcomes (Ostrom 1990). Introduction of INNS may result from the actions of only one individual, whereas biosecurity practice will require both individuals and organisations to work together to prevent the spread of INNS.

Here we report on research undertaken with UK stakeholder organisations to better understand biosecurity’s current role and future potential in INNS action in the UK. Our aim is to evaluate stakeholder perceptions of their role in INNS biosecurity practice in the UK and the implications for INNS strategy by: (1) exploring awareness and perceptions of INNS risk amongst participants; (2) exploring perceived barriers to biosecurity uptake that impact on organisations; (3) identifying drivers and opportunities for implementing biosecurity with stakeholders; and (4) considering the mechanisms by which the identified barriers may be overcome and opportunities exploited.

This research was conducted with the aim of better understanding organisational engagement in invasive species management, and specifically to explore perceptions of barriers to and motivations for biosecurity uptake. Because of this, the research team elected to employ a qualitative approach to data collection and data analysis. Users of UK natural environments decide whether or not to undertake biosecurity based on their attitudes and identities, both of which grow out of the experiences they have undergone. In this way, biosecurity decisions are similar to decisions about whether to employ other pro-environmental behaviours, and can be best understood with insights into the experiential knowledge held by individuals in organisations. Whilst it is not impossible to collect some forms of data on experiential knowledge quantitatively, the complexity and uniqueness of the lived experience means that qualitative methods are often better placed to elicit a greater level of understanding (Fazey et al. 2006).

Qualitative methods often rely on dialogue as a mode of data collection (Morgan 2011) and the qualitative method chosen here was to conduct semi-structured interviews with participants using a topic guide. Unlike set questionnaires, semi-structured interviews benefit from being loosely structured, allowing the interviewer to guide the discussion around topics of interest, but to remain sensitive to the fact that their initial understandings may change as the interview progresses (Morgan 2011). This approach also gives greater agency to the participants, allowing them to spend time discussing areas of particular interest to them, or to raise new issues. This leads to a scenario where interviewer and participant can develop a rapport, and participants are more likely to reveal their underlying views and motivations, or express nuanced, complicated information about the topics being discussed. Whilst this enables insights that might otherwise be missed, it results in interview transcripts that are unique and non-equivalent, with some areas of discussion covered only by some participants and not others. As such, the resulting interview transcripts produce a dataset that is analysed narratively and thematically, rather than to produce a quantitative representation of views. As such, the results of the research do not claim or attempt to proportionally represent organisational stances on biosecurity, but rather to provide insights into the nature of the range of positions expressed by participants which will be useful for understanding the issue of biosecurity uptake.

A stakeholder analysis (Reed et al. 2009) was used to identify a range of organisations that carry out activities in natural environments in the UK. A total of 38 stakeholder organisations were identified and representatives from all organisations were contacted for interview. Contacts focused predominantly on organisations operating within the Yorkshire Dales area, which enabled the research team to exploit links to a local environment network by using contacts as organisational gatekeepers. One representative each from a total of 10 national and 5 regional organisations (but representative of regional organisations found across the country) were interviewed, including business (2), leisure (3), conservation (4), education (1) and public bodies (5). Interview participants were encouraged to speak about their perceptions of local, regional and national level action on biosecurity within their organisation.

Semi-structured interviews were carried out in April–September 2015, by a single interviewer, at locations convenient to the participant, often their place of work, and ranged in duration from 45 to 90 min (depending on the responses given by participants). The interviewer guided the interview according to a pre-determined topic guide, which had been co-produced by the five members of the research team. The guide explored participants’ awareness of INNS, current biosecurity practice and policy within their organisation, and their perceptions of barriers to effective biosecurity and opportunities for improving the uptake of biosecurity measures. Participants were guaranteed anonymity for themselves and their organisation in order to encourage them to speak openly about their views and to raise any additional related issues they considered important.

The interviews were recorded and then transcribed to create a dataset. The transcribed interviews were analysed using open coding of the data into categories, some pre-determined by the focus of the research but with others emerging from the data (Bhattacherjee 2012). These categories were risk, biosecurity policy, biosecurity practice, barriers, opportunities, motivations/reputation, communication pathways, species of concern, other environmental/health and safety issues, partnership working and awareness. Axial coding was then used to identify connections between categories and over-arching themes emerging from the categories (Bhattacherjee 2012) in the context of collective action. The validity of the analysis was evaluated through a process of triangulation where two researchers carried out analysis of the data simultaneously to enable categories and themes to be cross-checked. Initial findings were also discussed with the respondents to further validate the results.

Whilst prevention may be better than cure where INNS are concerned, which warrants the uptake of biosecurity measures, this research highlights the barriers to adoption of biosecurity amongst environment users. These include: financial constraints linked to a lack of knowledge about invasion pathways and control measures, a focus on managing already established and visible INNS, and collective action problems if others fail to undertake biosecurity. The costs associated with implementing biosecurity mean that there is a reluctance to commit financially to undertaking biosecurity without the certainty of a return on investment. This would not only require more scientific evidence about specific INNS pathways of spread and the efficacy of measures for controlling them (which may not yet exist in the case of new INNS invasions), but more difficult still, would require certainty about the actions of other individuals whose activities may spread INNS in the environment. Additionally, there is little recourse to impose punishments on those who fail to undertake biosecurity, with many organisations failing to strictly enforce biosecurity compliance amongst staff and contractors. The low visibility of INNS propagules, limited measurability and attributability of successful biosecurity, and limited opportunities for monitoring biosecurity actions in the field, contribute to an out of sight out of mind attitude to INNS.

Preventative biosecurity offers the best chance to slow the rate of INNS invasions and protect valued environments from their impacts. However, as this research has shown, its uptake constitutes a tough collective action problem that will require carefully targeted policy to overcome. According to the findings of this research, those seeking to devise effective policy and strategy around biosecurity should consider shaping biosecurity campaigns that focus on moral conscience rather than negative impacts alone. Umbrella groups should facilitate social networking amongst users of natural areas, ensure effective two-way communications between management hierarchies overseeing natural areas, and encourage strong levels of participation in decisions on biosecurity strategy from environmental field workers. Campaigns should be shaped to target specific user groups and steps should be taken to enhance the visibility of successful biosecurity through national accreditations and as well as increasing awareness of the sanctions imposed on those who fail to undertake biosecurity.