Resource development and resource dependency of indigenous communities: Australia\u27s Jawoyn aborigines and mining at coronation hill

Indigenous people and their communities are often critical actors in resource development networks dominated by large-scale private and public sector organizations. Development policies and projects have often been contentious in Australia because lands on which development has occurred or been proposed are frequently areas of spiritual and traditional significance to Aboriginal people. Conflicts over development are therefore intense, occur in the context of a history of social and political exploitation of Aboriginal people, and focus on issues of symbolic value, local autonomy, power, and participation in planning. This article applies social assessment models recognizing resource development as a power network to the analysis of the social impacts of development and focuses on the political involvement of local communities as basic to social justice. Research results suggest that social impact assessments should include assessments of community competency to participate in corporate resource development networks and should study the institutional basis of local participation

"Development and the Environment": Environmental awareness, institutional 'Gaps' and public decision-making. by Roy E Rickson

Economic planners, impact assessors and environmental managers are often separated in background, training, interest, sympathies and political loyalties from personnel responsible for environmental management and planning

Research and Development in Industrial Corporations: Can Advanceed Societies Learn to Contain Pollution?

The development and distribution of knowledge has long been of interest to policymakers and social scientists. Because of the power of industrial corporations and the influence they have over the general research and development process, societies have the knowledge to deal with problems that coincide with corporate goals but have difficulty handling problems where solutions are, in the short run, contradictory to the uninterrupted pursuit of economic goals. A good example is societal ability to deal with waste or pollution. Two processes are important: (1) the process by which resources are allocated to research at the corporate and societal level and (2) the management of the expert role by the organizations.Water Resources Research Center

Sustaining Human Carrying Capacity: A tool for regional sustainability assessment

Regional sustainability is an important focus for natural resource management. Measuring how social and economic systems are progressing to sustainability is therefore a critical need. But it is dependent upon the development of analytical and methodological tools to measure progress, particularly, we argue, at the regional level. Achieving sustainability at the regional scale is important since it's at this scale where social institutions and ecological functioning are most closely linked. However, our recent study that evaluated the effectiveness of current sustainability assessment methods at the regional scale found methods developed for the global, national and state scales are not entirely effective at assessing sustainability at this spatial scale. Following on from this critique, we developed and tested a new method for assessing sustainability, which we believe is applicable at the regional scale. The framework, Sustaining Human Carrying Capacity (SHCC), evaluates the sustainability of regional human activities by considering the pressures these activities have on regional ecosystems. SHCC was tested and evaluated at the regional scale, demonstrating its potential to be an effective method for monitoring sustainability. It also has potential to be used to inform the community and decision makers about the sustainability of their region, and help guide strategic planning to progress sustainability.Sustainability assessment Regional Sustainability indicators Human carrying capacity Sustainability index

Social impact assessment: Knowledge and development

The role of social impact assessment (SIA) in development decision making is a continual theoretical and practical. Designed as a rational means for improving the intelligence of decision making by communities and government agencies, SIA is fundamental to development. SIA is a learning process contributing to the ability of communities and societies to learn and change. Grounding SIA in sound social theory helps to ensure independence of analysis from political judgments. However, SIA is most effective in structures that allow for political mobilization and should not be seen as a substitute for public participation. Two areas of sociological research (communities and organizations) are important to understanding how assessment data are diffused through a community and used by organizations and decision makers over time

Regional sustainability: How useful are current tools of sustainability assessment at the regional scale?

Sustainability assessment methods are primarily aimed at global, national or state scales. However, modelling sustainability at finer spatial scales, such as the region, is essential for understanding and achieving sustainability. Regions are emerging as an essential focus for sustainability researchers, natural resource managers and strategic planners working to develop and implement sustainability goals. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of current sustainability assessment methods - ecological footprint, wellbeing assessment, ecosystem health assessment, quality of life and natural resource availability - at the regional scale. Each of these assessment methods are tested using South East Queensland (SEQ) as a case study. It was selected because of its ecological and demographic diversity, its combination of coastal and land management issues, and its urban metropolitan and rural farm and non-farm communities. The applicability of each of these methods to regional assessment was examined using an evaluation criteria matrix, which describes the attributes of an effective method and the characteristics that make these methods useful for regional management and building community capacity to progress sustainability. We found that the methods tested failed to effectively measure progress toward sustainability at the regional scale, demonstrating the need for a new method for assessing regional sustainability.Sustainability assessment Regional sustainability Sustainability indicators Natural resource management