Alexandra and Associates Pty Ltd & Policy Partners is a team of experienced consultants with expertise in the delivery of complex projects involving collaboration across multiple stakeholders from industry, government and the private sector. We specialise in the design and management of bespoke projects that span policy, strategy, research and performance. Our approach and project teams are tailored to meet our clients’ needs. We have national and international experience in water, agriculture, NRM and environmental policy including in RD&E program design and evaluation. Lead contractor Policy Partners Pty Ltd ACN 169 754 278 ABN 66 169 754 278 89 Tennant Street FYSHWICK ACT 2609 www.policypartners.com.au Contact: Jason Alexandra, Project Leader Tony Webster Managing Director, Alexandra & Associates Pty Ltd Managing Director, Policy Partners Environment and Natural Resource Consultants [email protected] 0407 943 916 0448 439 334 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Preface Why do we need an investment plan for weeds RD&E? Research, development and extension (RD&E) on weeds in Australia suffers from boom-bust funding and competition for resources that is resulting in declining RD&E capabilities. Uncertainty has resulted in a dramatic decline in expertise. With the Australian Government’s R&D for Profit program soon coming to an end, another ‘funding cliff’ is fast approaching and there is an imperative to think about better approaches. This project is exploring the opportunities for pooling and coordinating investment from multiple investors in order to develop better processes for collaboration and the allocation of RD&E funds and effort. Who commissioned this project? The Centre for Invasive Species Solutions (CISS) is a national collaborative research centre, focusing on RD&E to enhance invasive species management. CISS has transitioned from the Invasive Animals CRC, broadening its focus to include weeds. CISS initiated this investment planning exercise with the intent of formulating a plan for coordinated and collaborative weeds RD&E investment over the next decade. The plan will outline the focus of the RD&E and the ways in which they priority activities should be financed and governed. What is this document about? This consultation paper is the first stage of a consultation process to develop a national weeds RD&E investment plan. This paper focuses on investment planning for weeds RD&E. Essentially, we are seeking stakeholder input on: • what kinds of RD&E are needed to achieve the highest impacts over the greatest areas of Australia? • what kinds of collaborative investment models will work to enable stable funding that avoids the negative impact of boom/bust funding regimes? Who can provide feedback on this paper? Anybody interested or involved in weeds research, management, policy or practice. How to provide feedback? Comments can be made by completing an on-line questionnaire based on the questions in this paper. You can access the questionnaire via: https://invasives.com.au/weeds-rde-feedback/ Alternatively, comments on this paper con be provided by email to: [email protected] Or mailed to: Centre for Invasive Species Solutions Building 22, University Drive South BRUCE ACT 2617 i Contents Preface ....................................................................................................................................... i Contents .................................................................................................................................... ii Executive summary .................................................................................................................... 1 The situation—Boom-bust funding and an erosion in capability ............................................................. 1 This consultation paper ............................................................................................................................ 2 Key issues for stakeholder consultation ................................................................................................... 2 1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 4 The purpose in this consultation paper.................................................................................................... 4 Who is CISS? ............................................................................................................................................. 5 Outline of the planned consultation ........................................................................................................ 5 A roadmap approach to planning ............................................................................................................. 6 Have your say ........................................................................................................................................... 7 The structure of this document ................................................................................................................ 8 2. Key dimensions of weeds RD&E investment plan ............................................................... 9 Why do we need a weed RD&E investment plan? ................................................................................... 9 What is the Investment Plan for? —A framework for enabling collaborative R&I investments ............ 13 Why we need new investment models for weeds RD&E. ...................................................................... 13 RD&E and innovation theory—from linear technology transfer to networks........................................ 15 Scoping weeds RD&E—defining and redefining weeds ......................................................................... 16 What is the weed problem and how is it represented? ......................................................................... 18 3. Situation analysis—the context for weeds RD&E ............................................................. 19 How is weed RD&E organised in Australia? Shared responsibilities for weeds ..................................... 19 Shared responsibilities—federated and networked models .................................................................. 20 Current situation - R&D funding ............................................................................................................. 22 Clarifying public and private benefits in R&D ........................................................................................ 22 The Australian Weeds Strategy .............................................................................................................. 24 Invasive Plants and Animals RD&E Priorities 2016-2020 ....................................................................... 26 Policy, compliance, extension and socioeconomic aspects .................................................................... 27 Federated and networked approaches .................................................................................................. 28 Long-term, collaborative participatory research works ......................................................................... 30 4. Previous national weeds RD&E programs ........................................................................ 32 Defeating the Weed Menace R&D Program ........................................................................................... 32 National Weeds and Productivity Research Program ............................................................................. 32 Evaluation of RD&E in the Australian Weeds Strategy implementation report ..................................... 32 5. Re-conceptualisation- reframing of weeds RD&E ............................................................. 35 Framing weeds as problems ................................................................................................................... 35 Novel ecosystems versus nativeism—weeds of the Anthropocene ....................................................... 35 Holistic and landscape—scale versus weed-by-weed control ................................................................ 36 6. Investment planning principles and approaches .............................................................. 39 Portfolio allocation approaches to investment ...................................................................................... 39 Appendices .............................................................................................................................. 42 Appendix 1: Where are weeds a problem in Australia? ......................................................................... 42 Appendix 2: Australia’s weeds strategies ............................................................................................... 45 Appendix 3: Past national weeds R&D programs ................................................................................... 49 Appendix 4 - The portfolio approach used by CISS 2017-22 .................................................................. 51 ii Executive summary The situation—Boom-bust funding and an erosion in capability Weeds are the focus of much activity in the NRM, agriculture and conservation. Increasingly they are being incorporated into Australia’s broader biosecurity policies, where pest plants, animals, diseases and pathogens are conceived of collectively as biosecurity threats that require targeted policy responses. Weeds policy, management, and research, development and extension (RD&E) responsibilities in Australia are appropriately shared across many agencies, different spheres of government and the private sector but this also leads to a range of difficulties for efficient scaling of efforts, accountability and coordination. While understanding of the threats posed by invasive plant species has increased, the resourcing for weeds RD&E has declined. Weeds RD&E in Australia suffers from a lack of continuity, the corrosive impact of boom/bust funding models, competition for available resources that erodes collaboration and declining RD&E capabilities. Investment flows, accountabilities and responsibilities are complex. There are inefficient processes of pooling and targeting investment, or in allocating Figure 1: Conceptual model of alternative weed investment flows RD&E funds across the spectrum of needs that occur on the invasion curve—from prevention of new incursions to reduction of impacts from established weed species. For example, there has been a dramatic decline in technical expertise in biocontrol with an estimated four-fold reduction in scientists working on weed biocontrol over recent decades, despite bio control R&D generating strong rates of return1 The conceptual model suggests that for an equal investment over time, impact Over the past decade, several will be greater where the investment is consistent rather than boom-bust, given national R&D programs have the loss of capacity following each bust aimed to target agreed national priorities for weeds, although actual funding has been skewed towards established weeds, rather than prevention. Furthermore, when these programs conclude, there are inevitable losses of scientific and technical capacity, due to the stop-start nature of the funding models. It is an imperative to think about better approaches. There have been persistent calls for more funding, more innovative approaches, and national collaborative programs that smooth funding cycles and sustain RD&E capabilities2. Australia has several biosecurity and weeds strategies; however, but for these to be effective, sustained national RD&E investments delivered are required. These need to be delivered through mechanisms that enhance collaboration. While there is an abundance of strategies that identify RD&E priorities, there is no effective national 1 Page, A.R. and Lacey, K.L. (2006). ‘Economic impact assessment of Australian weed biological control’. Technical Series, No. 10, pp. 150. (CRC for Australian Weed Management) 2 Priorities for Australia’s biosecurity system, The final report of the independent review of the capacity of Australia’s biosecurity system and the underpinning Intergovernmental Agreement on Biosecurity (IGAB) W. Craik, D. Palmer and R. Sheldrake 2017 1 platform for collaboration on implementing those strategies—either across sectors (e.g. agriculture, biosecurity and environment) or between the many actors involved in funding, policy, regulation and delivery of RD&E. Responsibilities for weeds in Australia are distributed across scales and agencies but enhancing collaboration is critical to bring the interested and affected parties together to provide critical mass, prioritisation and targeting of investments. While weed problems will always be with us, weeds RD&E can make a major contribution to the prevention and reduction of weed -related costs, ensuring that management is more targeted and effective. However, there is never likely to be sufficient funds to undertake all of the weeds RD&E expected, and so a clear framework for priority setting is needed to focus available funds and resources on the most effective RD&E. This paper is asking how to make the ideal of national collaboration on weeds RD&E work in practice. At this stage of the project, the paper offers more questions than answers. We are seeking feedback on these. This consultation paper The Centre for Invasive Species Solutions (CISS) initiated this project with the intent of designing a framework, to be agreed by all investors, for coordinating weeds RD&E investment over the next decade or more. A successful Investment Plan will provide certainty for multiple investors about the prioritisation processes, scale and scope of RD&E investments and the ways in which those investments will be governed. This paper is primarily focused on setting out the issues involved in investment planning for weeds RD&E in Australia. It outlines a range of key issues to guide stakeholder consideration and feedback. Key issues for stakeholder consultation Weed RD&E investment planning Throughout this paper, we have identified issues pertinent to investment planning for weeds RD&E. For example: 1. What investment collaboration models are needed to enable investment in high impact RD&E? 2. What are the major issues that need to be taken into account for planning sustained collaborative investment in weeds RD&E? 3. Is there a need for new pooled funding models for weeds RD&E? If so, are there clear principles that could be used to prioritise investments in weeds RD&E? 4. What funding and delivery mechanisms are needed to be effective in delivering on Australia’s agreed weeds RD&E priorities? 5. In terms of a renewed funding model for weeds RD&E, is the primary need about multiple investors agreeing a model—including rules, scope and governance—for pooling and targeting RD&E budgets to shared priorities? The policy settings and institutional context for weed RD&E Weeds RD&E sits within and is framed by a wider context that affects the way we approach innovation, define policy problems and respond to institutional settings. 6. Defining the nature of the innovation systems may be critical to the kinds of RD&E investment undertaken. What kinds of innovation systems are best suited to dealing with weeds in Australia? 7. Do we need to define, or redefine, the nature of weeds and weed problems before considering how investments in RD&E can be used to ‘fix’ these problems? How does the way we conceptualise weed problems determine the kinds of R&D undertaken? Are there unrealistic expectations about what can be achieved? 2 8. Given the policy and social context of shared responsibilities, what models of investment cooperation and collaboration will enhance national capabilities for weeds RD&E with impact? Specific opportunities for weeds RD&E agreed in national strategies Australia has several national strategies for weeds and biosecurity, which identify wide-ranging priorities for RD&E along the invasion curve, and that span highly technical, policy and socioeconomic RD&E. However, these are largely underfunded or unfunded. Many of the question we are asking relate to ways to give effect to these risk and opportunities. 9. Given that the National Environment and Community Biosecurity RD&E Strategy identified that “lack of funding to maintain capabilities and support coordination frameworks” is a major weakness, what needs to be done to ensure adequate funding, effective coordination and the maintenance of adequate R&D capabilities? 10. What is needed to realise opportunities such as citizen science, international collaborations, and innovative partnering with primary industries and the non-government sector? 11. Given that the Australian Weeds Strategy provides the policy framework for weeds in Australia, what kind of national investment models are needed to give effect to its research and innovation objectives? 12. Given the prospective value of biocontrol techniques, what kind of national investment and coordination models are needed to further support and enhance this kind of RD&E? 13. The need to focus on risk-based approaches to detection, prevention and eradication of weeds in Australia is widely recognised. What kind of national investment and coordination models are needed to ensure that RD&E supporting this approach is funded? 14. Given that forming collaborative partnerships involving land managers and understanding the policy context and socioeconomic drivers are recognised as priorities, what kinds national investment models are needed to further support and enhance this kind of RD&E? Lessons from prior weeds RD&E—evaluation and adaptive management Investment in weeds RD&E needs to take into account critical lessons from previous programs. To do this, critical evaluations and adaptive management is important. 15. Should more rigorous and systematic evaluation be part of weeds RD&E in order to turn management into an adaptive experiment and to determine which approaches to weeds are working to achieve their stated objectives? 16. How can the Investment Plan ensure that funding is distributed to those projects that are likely to be most cost effective in dealing with prevention, early detection, effective policy and coordination, when intense pressure is likely to be expected for work on established weeds? Redefining objectives and approaches to weeds With weeds defined as problems, within complex landscapes and ecosystems, we are asking: 17. Do we need RD&E on the ecological functions of weeds, by explicitly examining the benefits as well as the risks posed to specified values like ecosystem conservation and/or production? 18. Would setting clearer objectives for regional landscapes or bio-regions assist with questions of weeds and their function within regional ecosystems? 19. Is there a need to reconceive weed management from singular techniques to integrated approaches that attempt to deal with weeds at the landscape scale within regional ecosystems? 3 1. Introduction The purpose in this consultation paper This consultation paper and situation analysis is the first stage in developing a national investment plan for weed research, development and extension (RD&E) for the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions (CISS). CISS engaged Policy Partners to assist in the development of a 10-year Investment Plan for Weed RD&E (the Investment Plan). The Commonwealth Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources asked CISS to develop such a to guide the Centre’s weed RD&E investment over both the short term (1-3 years) and medium term (10 years), and to help determine where and how the Centre could facilitate greater coordination of the national RD&E effort addressing weeds. The Minister requested a plan that: • emphasises RD&E with impact; • supports effective action, not continuous strategy development • maximises return on investment The methods to be used in developing the Investment Plan include: • consultation with: o staff and directors of CISS o the project steering committee o weeds RD&E experts and practitioners • a review of scientific and policy literature relevant to: o weeds RD&E and weed strategies o effective investment allocation frameworks In this paper we identify many issues for Australia’s weed RD&E investment. As part of the consultations, we are seeking constructive feedback on these issues and on how to develop an investment plan. Drawing on prior weeds R&D strategies, it seems likely that the aim in the Investment Plan may be something like: • ensuring that investment in RD&E makes a significant contribution to effective prevention and management of weeds, reducing their overall economic and ecological impact • strategic investment in collaborative and coordinated weed RD&E which maximises benefits to Australia’s environment, economy and community However, more significant than the challenge of stating the overarching objective will be achieving a plan endorsed by the RD&E investors. For this, the Investment Plan will need agreed investment allocation rules (principles and specific criteria) which can guide the allocation of limited resources to activities which are likely to result in substantive effects. Our review identifies some key issues arising from the funding and organisation of RD&E—innovation models, innovation policy, coordination mechanisms and incentives for collaboration—and those arising from weeds and biosecurity policies that disperse and share responsibilities across Australia’s federated system. Given that these policy and institutional settings are unlikely to change over the course of the Investment Plan, any proposed investment model needs to be functional within Australia’s federated system, enabling multiple 4 partners with different needs and responsibilities to cooperate on RD&E where there are common concerns and benefits. Who is CISS? This weeds RD&E investment plan is being developed by the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions (CISS). CISS is Australia’s collaborative research centre focusing on research, development and extension to enhance invasive species management strategies among landholders and land managers. CISS has transitioned from the former Invasive Animals CRC (IA CRC), moving into new agricultural and environmental domains, broadening the range of pest species of concern to include weeds and a wider range of vertebrate pest species. CISS was formed to tackle the ongoing threat from invasive species by providing a national collaboration platform bringing together the Australian and State Governments, industries, CSIRO and universities. (For more information on CISS see appendix 4). As part of its Commonwealth Agreement obligation, CISS is developing an Investment Plan to guide future investment in weeds RD&E. Across vertebrate pests and weeds, CISS concentrates on developing smarter tools to prevent and detect new invasions, and advanced and tactical tools to strengthen integrated management strategies and knowledge. CISS works with industry and governments to create solutions to address the impact of both invasive animals and plants. More information can be found at https://invasives.com.au/ Outline of the planned consultation The development process for the Investment Plan will engage key stakeholders—the Centre’s partners, the Australian Government, state governments, industry, research and development corporations (RDCs) and universities—with a view to building lasting collaborations and enabling sustainable co-investment of funds and resources. Key steps in the consultation process are as follows. 1. This situation analysis and discussion paper scope key issues for consultation and outline the key themes and questions for subsequent consultations. 2. A consultation phase that includes face-to-face, teleconference briefings and other forms of correspondence to obtain feedback from key informants, critical stakeholders and potential co-investors. Consultation will involve: • a stakeholder workshop; • face to face, telephone and/or Skype interviews with key stakeholders including CISS’ partners; and • written responses to surveys and prompts. 3. Exposure draft and a planning workshop—after feedback and revisions, an exposure draft of the Investment Plan will be developed and distributed with the workshop structured as an opportunity to review and refine the exposure draft. The exposure draft will provide: • the situation analysis; • the prospective priorities for weeds RD&E expected to be pursued by CISS; • an investment action plan consisting of a ten-year investment framework, including descriptions of desired outcomes, outputs, activities (projects), assumptions, performance targets, scale of investments, guiding principles and governance mechanisms, and an initial four-year investment, consistent with the Australian Government’s funding terms and conditions for CISS; and 5 • a proposed framework for stakeholder engagement, communication and the oversight of co- investment which ensures robust pathways to adoption. 4. The final Investment Plan will be prepared, based on feedback during Stage 3. 5. Further consultation on the Investment Plan after completion of this planning project. Figure 2: Stakeholder consultation and indicative timeframe A roadmap approach to planning The next stage in this consultation will be developing the draft investment plan. There will be opportunities to respond to this draft and after July CISS plans further consultation on the next version of the plan. Throughout this process we will be asking: • What does success look like? • What changes are needed to go from the current state to a preferred future state? • And therefore what transitions are required? What would success look like? To inform this planning process we are asking what success of weed RD&E investment would like. • By 2030, what will success look like for weeds RD&E investment in Australia? 6