The Institute for Land, Water and Society is one of four Centres of Research Excellence within Charles Sturt University, Australia. Its principal focus is on integrated research which contributes to improved social and environmental sustainability in rural and regional areas.
What's new:
Regional Rail Revival in NSW
The ‘Regional Rail Revival’ seminar held at Blayney on Friday May 10 has been hailed a great success by organiser Adjunct Prof Ian Gray. One hundred and five people gathered to hear information and join in the discussion about what freight railways can offer regional areas and how railways interstate and overseas have been revived for national as well as local benefit.. Speakers offered updates on this process and discussed how the Blayney-Demondrille model can be applied in different situations. For a full report and copies of the presentations read more
Farmers want water 'banked' for future droughts
Australian farmers want excess water from large floods to be ‘banked’ in aquifers for use in dry times. A survey by the National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training (NCGRT), which included ILWS researchers, shows that farmers in the Namoi catchment area in the Murray Darling Basin (MDB) mainly support water banking, or storing extra water underground, from large floods. Read more
Unknown wonders: Riversleigh
ILWS PhD Student Kylie Williams writes for The Conversation on the fossil fields of Riversleigh in far north western Queensland which provide one of the world’s richest Oligo-Miocene faunal records.
ILWS experts discuss Federal Budget
A looming election, a $17 billion dollar shortfall in revenue, and education reforms and a disability insurance scheme to fund, has set the scene for the federal Budget on Tuesday 14 May. Read more
On budget night, humans will trump other species, again 
ILWS researcher Barney Foran warns that " we need to acknowledge the way our pursuit of economic growth drives other species' decline" in his article in The Conversation
A stream of Scientific Research
The latest edition of RipRap Edition 35: Restoring Rivers and Wetlands to Life includes an article on pages 22 – 24 “A stream of Scientific Research” on our Water SRA research projects in the Edward-Wakool and Murrumbidgee River Systems
Neonicotinoid ban eases the stress on bees 
News that the European Union (EU) has restricted the use of neonicotinoid insecticides was welcomed by scientists, farmers, beekeepers and politicians around the world. ILWS PhD candidate Manu Saunders commented on the implications for other pollinators and the Australian context in The Conversation
Apadptation Policies for Wetlands Workshop
A two-day workshop to discuss what information Australia needs to meet its international obligations for its inland and coastal wetlands covered by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands has been hailed as “very forward-looking and very interesting” according to international wetland expert Prof Nick Davidson. Read more
Prof Max Finlayson was interviewed on ABC Rural on Friday April 26 about Kakadu and other wetlands and the need to protect them. http://www.abc.net.au/rural/telegraph/content/2013/s3746136.htm
Events