Online national invasive plants questionnaire - where does your business stand?
Following part one of the national invasive plants survey, Nursery & Garden Industry Australia (NGIA) is requesting vital Industry participation in an online questionnaire to gauge how familiar Industry businesses are with invasive plant issues.
National Environmental and Technical Policy Manager Dr Anthony Kachenko says: "The response to part one of the survey saw NGIA receive an astounding 350 production/availability lists from nurseries across Australia. NGIA sincerely thanks all participating nurseries who are clearly focusing on the future of invasive plant management by removing those plants currently deemed invasive or potentially invasive from their lists."
The online questionnaire is open to all retail and production nurseries across Australia. Click here to take part in the questionnaire.
There are four parts to the survey which cover invasive plants:
• awareness
• resources
• extension
• management
The survey takes no more than 10 minutes to answer and all completed surveys will remain confidential and used only for research purposes. Business details will not be disclosed in the final report, to be released in December 2009.
"Nursery & Garden Industry Australia is committed to protecting Australia's rich biodiversity," Dr Kachenko says. This questionnaire will provide NGIA with important and relevant data that will help us establish the level of awareness growers and retailers have regarding the plants they sell. It continues to build on the success of the Grow Me Instead campaign to further educate industry and consumers regarding the prevention and spread of environmental weeds.
With an increasing focus on environmentally sound business practice, it is vital for industry to participate.
If you would like to know more about this project, contact Del Thomas ph/fax (02) 6557 2727 or email: delwyn.thomas@ngia.com.au. Del Thomas has been engaged by NGIA to lead this project.
Note: NGIA is aware that the lists of garden plants known to be invasive vary considerably from region to region. However, we will address this when evaluating production lists and writing the final report.
