• Demographic change in Australia’s rural landscapes: implication for society and the environment, by CSU’s Associate Professor Gary Luck, and Drs Digby Race and Rosemary Black, published by Springer and CSIRO Publishing.

Professor Luck said both population growth and decline are evident in regional Australia, with different implications for how rural landscapes are managed. “So-called ‘tree-changers’ are moving into regional areas, with the sub-division of large rural properties and so more landowners. Managing the same area of land now requires the coordination of many landholders with different values and backgrounds. Land use is diversifying and that offers opportunities and challenges,” Professor Luck said.

 

“On the other hand, some marginal or remote areas where farming is unprofitable have declining populations. Younger generations are leaving the family farm, and health and education services are declining. So what is the future for these areas? Should we amalgamate farms to be managed by national or multi-national companies? Or do we abandon the land which happened in Europe or North America or more recently in the West Australian Wheatbelt? The choice has major implications for managing feral pests and weeds and for conservation management in these regions.

 

“The authors of chapters in Demographic Change look at the patterns and ‘drivers’ of changes occurring across Australia, taking a comprehensive look at the social and environmental implications of these changes.”

•  Social development: Critical themes and perspectives, by CSU’s Associate Professor Manohar Pawar and David Cox, published by Routledge, New York.

This edited collection shows that ideas in social development are practical and not utopian, demostrating that practicing social development locally and in communities promotes universal social justice and wellbeing. Social  Development presents the optimistic argument that applying social development ideas can help create a world in which nearly all people gain greater wellbeing.

• Community development in Asia and the Pacific, by CSU’s Associate Professor Manohar Pawar, published by Routledge, New York.

With diverse socio-economic, political and cultural needs and issues, there is much need for community development in Asia and the Pacific. Professor Pawar presents the major issues confronting community development and critically analyses the challenges and opportunities for community development practice in the region.

The three books will be launched with the books’ authors and editors in the Gums Café at CSU in Albury-Wodonga, off Elizabeth Mitchell Drive, Thurgoona, starting at 10am on Monday 18 October.