Back to resources

Guidelines for General Surveillance Programs

Download here

General surveillance programs engage people from all walks of life in monitoring and reporting pests, weeds and diseases. The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) developed Guidelines for General Surveillance Programs (the Guidelines) to support the planning, implementation and maintenance of general surveillance programs. The research underpinning the Guidelines used a systems thinking approach, considering the main components and their interactions. This included the different participants throughout a general surveillance program, supporting technologies and data management systems, formal and informal rules, and ecological systems. A literature review and lessons learnt from nine case study programs across Australia and New Zealand were used to explore what works, and what does not work so well. There were four plant-based case studies, the Pantry Blitz (using MyPestGuide for Khapra Beetle monitoring), the Queensland Weed Spotter Network, Weed Spotters Victoria and the general surveillance hotline for plant health in New Zealand. https://www.awe.gov.au/abares/research-topics/social-sciences/making-general-surveillance-work/guidelines