Reconciling risk and responsibility on Indigenous country: bridging the boundaries to guide knowledge sharing for cross-cultural biosecurity risk management in northern Australia

Abstract

ABSTRACT Risks posed by new species entering local environments have instigated Indigenous peoples’ efforts to develop new knowledge and land management strategies in many regions. Working to share responsibility for the management of these risks requires new information, prompting government agencies, Indigenous organisations, industry groups, and others to advance new knowledge and different biosecurity practices. Tensions can exist between diverse interest groups advocating different versions of “biosecurity risk.” For example, which organisms should be governed as harmful, what kind of knowledge is useful to inform management practices, and what constitutes “risk”? We draw on research conducted with Indigenous organisations in northern Australia to better understand what risks they associate with “caring for [sick] country.” We argue that effective biosecurity practice in cross-cultural settings can navigate the bridge between different kinds of knowledge and capabilities to support diverse values, notions of responsibility to country, and related understandings of risk. Further, we argue that “biosecurity risk” as a boundary concept could provide the means for creating improved knowledge partnerships that value all interpretations of “biosecurity risk”. Partnerships that recognise multiple approaches for taking responsibility for the management of identified risks could support innovation for cross-cultural and collaborative approaches to biosecurity practice and management.