Globalisation of food production, processing and retailing focuses our attention on social and economic relations between large-scale, often international, companies and local communities. We need to focus also on emerging and intensifying conflicts between mining and agriculture when the extraction of natural resources such as coal, limestone, or coal seam gas intersects with productive farmland and rural settlements. The ‘local’ and the ‘global’ are tied together in these issues, and ever more so as neoliberal policies are embraced by national governments in ways that tend to dissuade or dismantle regulatory hurdles or oversight for international agri-food and mining developments, and the social and environmental impacts of projects at local levels. Rural communities and regions in these circumstances are ‘contested terrains’, where accessing natural resources can add economic benefit and social vitality to rural areas. However, the risks of degradation of underground and surface water systems, air and land quality, valued rural landscapes, cultural heritage and the social sustainability of rural communities are costs often tied to these benefits. Relations of social power and trust (or distrust) characterise collaboration and conflict between community groups and individuals, company managers and responsible government agencies as they negotiate the risks and benefits of project development. Addressing social and environmental justice dimensions of economic objectives is a necessary focus of actor relations, and informs our understanding of sustainability, which we define as balancing economic goals with social and environmental justice. Powerful companies can push projects through local and national resistance. Yet their power is institutionally limited and project development across food and mining sectors is, to varying degrees, contingent upon the relationships corporate actors generate and maintain with local people. We examine here in particular the ways that mobilised local groups can influence access to natural resources, and how related costs and benefits are distributed.

The authors present a summary discussion of an empirical model of project-specific power sharing in a partnership between an international cement company and local community groups. Although the project is ongoing and large amounts of data are yet to be presented, we argue that meeting environmental and business sustainability goals are possible in these types of relationships. Managing the environmental and social impacts of natural resource extraction is a critical dimension of environmental sustainability, defined in this paper as 'balancing economic objectives with social and environmental justice' (Hoppe, Rickson and Burch 2007). Distributive justice is central to social and environmental assessment, and its variants such as risk assessment, even if, as many scholars have found, in the study of resource dependent communities, these concerns remain in a state of 'cumulative inattention' (Freudenberg 1976:8, cited in Krannich 2012). We address the question of whether and how equity or justice is or can be an essential dimension of project development strategies by private companies, public agencies and local communities. If it is, then social relations are essential to negotiating differences among parties equally dependent upon a natural resource for benefit of or dependent upon the behavior of the other to measure and mitigate the environmental and social 'harms' associated with large-scale resource development. Negotiations, in these circumstances, are formal conversations, based upon policy and law, encompassing economic and environmental considerations deeply embedded in social relations. Conversations occurring in local project sites between company managers, government officials and community groups are often 'face to face' and intense, involving historical antecedents conditioning how the actors think, believe and act. If economic and environmental relations are embedded in social relations, then impact management, like sustainability, has to be seen as a dynamic process based upon social interaction between affected parties. This process is often intense and responsive to changes across biophysical conditions, cultural locations and, most importantly, time. Social equity, like environmental sustainability, is a stated, if idealistic goal of resource development. Concepts promoting equity in development are found in corporate mission statements, public policy and law. They constitute a set of moral

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.

This article examines the way in which an environmental ‘problem’ comes to be constructed as such. It takes as a case study the issue of sand and gravel aggregate extraction from the Brisbane River, in South-east Queensland, and analyses how this came to be defined as a ‘problem’ requiring a policy response on the part of key decision-makers, including concrete companies, local and state government agencies, riverside residents and environmental groups. The dispute over whether dredging should be labeled as an environmental problem is analysed using the theory of environmental claims-making, which provides an analytical structure for identifying the three major stages through which environmental problems are constructed, namely: assembling, presenting and contesting claims. In addition, we discuss the process of ‘non-decision making’ by which certain policy options are ruled out from consideration and political action. Data were collected from interviews with key players in the dredging dispute, and were combined with analysis of relevant documents and newspaper articles. The environmental claims-making analysis illustrates the way that environmental problems are socially constructed and therefore can be fully understood only when placed in their social, cultural and political context.

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.

Strategic alliances between local communities and transnational companies are key dimensions of environmental sustainability, which now includes social and environmental justice rather than just environmental protection. We report selected results from a long-term study of industry/community relationships in the cement sector comparing European and Australian companies. The results indicate how strategic partnerships between companies and local communities can influence the selection and management of large-scale technologies and thereby help to balance economic objectives with social and environmental justice.

This paper is concerned with the role of social impact assessment (SIA) in the resolution of an environmental conflict involving demands for the conservation of an ecologically significant area, a proposal to exploit mineral wealth, and the concerns of indigenous custodians who feared damage to sacred lands. This is a case in which the knowledge claims of key protagonists were deeply politicized and contested, and in which the process of decision-making was itself the subject of controversy and debate. The paper reviews the case, emphasizing the roles of western and indigenous epistemologies in decision- making. It presents an approach to SIA that addresses these epistemological issues and ensures the articulation of indigenous knowledge to governmental decision-makers.

The Citizen Science Toolbox was developed by the Coastal CRC in partnership with Griffith University and the Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Water. It is a free resource of principles and strategies to enhance meaningful stakeholder involvement in decision-making. Stakeholders include not only communities, but also scientists and decision-makers. Meaningful involvement of all stakeholders occurs through a commitment to social learning - learning on the part of communities, other stakeholders and institutions.