Increasing awareness of the social development needs of the Asia-Pacific region is one of the aims of an international conference being co-organised by Associate Professor Manohar Pawar from Charles Sturt University (CSU). The conference, which will be held in Nepal from Tuesday 25 to Friday 28 November, is held biennially by the International Consortium for Social Development (ICSD). Professor Pawar, from the CSU Institute for Land, Water and Society, is president of the ICSD Asia-Pacific branch. “This conference, with its themes of social development, transition and local partnerships, is being held at a time of international financial uncertainty,” said Professor Pawar. “Some world leaders have responded by pleading for global partnership and cooperation to deal with the financial crisis, though the whole world may not be responsible for such a crisis. Similar to the financial crisis, the world is experiencing severe and intensive crises such as poverty and hunger, climate change, disasters and drought, war and violence, and mass displacement of people. It is also timely to call for global partnership and cooperation to attack these crises.”