This thematic area links the social and physical sciences with planning, management, and policy issues associated with the use of natural resources and the environment, particularly land and water. Examples include multiple resource needs and uses such as stakeholder perceptions and decision-making as well as social, economic, and environmental impacts of alternative policy and management options. Research is used to inform decisions made by public, private, and non-profit groups and to develop formal and non-formal environmental education efforts. Environmental justice and social ecological resilience are explored and applied to this and other thematic areas. Coursework, research, and outreach address local, regional, national, and international issues.<br>The Doctor of Philosophy in Community Sustainability is designed to enable students to generate new knowledge in complementary fields responsive to rapidly changing conditions in our natural environment and agricultural systems. The CSUS graduate program is designed for students interested in issues of community sustainability in either a domestic or international context. Broadly speaking, faculty, academic staff, and graduate students working in this graduate program tend to focus their work on community food and agricultural systems, natural resources and the environment, tourism and recreation systems, education and civic engagement, and international development. These themes are very broad and they overlap not only with each other but also with issues around sustainable tourism and protected area management, the focus of the department's other MS and PhD graduate programs. We apply our work in these areas in both domestic and international settings, with numerous faculty and graduate students working in the context of international development.