Social relations and natural resource management: the significance of trust and power to solving a collective weed management problem

Many of the world's most challenging environmental problems, such as biosecurity, climate change and water scarcity, are trans-boundary in nature and require cooperation of diverse actors. The degradation of rural land is one such problem. This thesis aims to explain the reasons why rural landholders and government agencies do or do not participate in environmental, collective action problems. It does this by asking two questions: can study of a wide range of social relations explain the achievement of collective action in a real-world setting? And, are trust, power and their nexus useful concepts for explaining the nature of those social relations? The empirical example used in this thesis is serrated tussock (Nassella trichotoma), a highly invasive, noxious weed that covers more than two million hectares in south-eastern Australia. Semi-structured interviews, participant observation and newspaper analysis were used to explore the relations among the suite of actors responsible for controlling this weed in two case studies”Cooma, NSW and Bacchus Marsh, Victoria.