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Sustainable development requires social development and economic construction to be coordinated with the carrying capacity of the ecological environment. It necessitates adhering to the concept of sustainable development while pursuing economic development and social progress, improving the effective utilization rate of natural resources, and protecting and improving the ecological environment in which people live. This paper takes the e-commerce trade ecological industrial park in Dalian Economic Development Zone as an example to comprehensively evaluate its sustainable development ability using the state-of-the-art techniques of soft computing. Soft computing has recently gained appeal over traditional hard computing because it can cope with uncertainty just as easily as a human can. The basic aim of the study is to avoid excessive resource and environmental pressure hindering the coordinated development of various subsystems of the park. First, an evaluation index system containing four subsystem elements of the environment, society, economy, and resources was constructed, and the importance of each index in the evaluation index system was calculated. Second, the distance model and fuzzy logic of soft computing were used to comprehensively evaluate the sustainability of the selected industrial park. Six criteria were established to describe the sustainability of the industrial park based on the opinions of industry professionals, with references to the research findings of local and international forerunners. The finding of the paper shows that the development level index of each subsystem of the industrial park has continued to rise, except for a few cases. The result also demonstrates that the overall coordinated development degree of the park has increased year by year from 2010 to 2019. This means that the coordinated development level has improved from the initial barely coordinated level in 2010 to the high-quality coordinated development level in 2019; however, the overall coordinated development degree is still less than 0.9. Through this study, it is possible to judge the sustainable development ability of the four subsystems of the industrial park and whether it meets the relevant standards of resource consumption and environmental protection stipulated by the state. It is of great practical significance for promoting the formation of a good ecological chain between enterprises in the park, realizing resource recycling, and reducing waste discharge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mountain environmental systems are considered unique ecological and bio-physical systems which provide ecosystem services to the global community. It is observed that the rapid ecological changes and habitat destruction occur due to demographic changes, investment and introduction of various infrastructure development, and rapid harness of the available natural resources in the region. Such economic growth and recent environmental dynamics have engrossed the attention of the scientific community for comprehensive study. The focus of the present study is to understand the spatio-temporal consensus of the scientific community working on the mountain's environmental sustainability. This study includes the bibliometric and network analysis of 1,384 research papers published on mountain sustainability and ecosystem in various journals. The analysis is performed on numerous essential research indicators such as open-access publication, number of citations, author team size, affiliated institutions and countries, publishing journals, research categories, and keywords. This article will provide an in-depth and holistic understanding of the issues and concerns related to global mountain environmental sustainability. The findings of the article will provide a scholarly platform for the development of stakeholders and organizational relationships working for mountain ecosystem sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid urbanisation invariably affects the extent of natural resources and green spaces in the cities. Urban expansion to accommodate the increasing population and economic activities are constantly threatening the existing forest areas and green spaces. In this regard, it is estimated that by 2020, 75% of the Malaysian population will be residing in cities and major urban centres. The pressure on existing forest and green spaces will increase thus affecting the general well-being of city dwellers. This trend is evident in Kuala Lumpur. The Economic Transformation Programme launched in 2010 identified Greater Kuala Lumpur and Klang Valley Region a sub-region of Kuala Lumpur Extended Mega Urban Region as one of the key region to enhance and spearhead the economic growth towards a developed nation status in 2020. Currently the region is home to 10 million residents about 31% of the total population of Malaysia. This figure is expected to increase to 12 million people in 2030. The main aim is to transform Greater Kuala Lumpur and Klang Valley Region into a highly connected city where people can access many facilities, opportunities and services being liveable as a vibrant urban metropolis. It also aspires to be among the top 20 most liveable cities globally by 2030. For the past several decades Kuala Lumpur has greatly expanded and diffused through the connection of smaller towns and urban centres such as Putrajaya, Shah Alam, Petaling Jaya, Klang, Kajang, Selayang, Ampang Jaya and Sepang. This expansion process undoubtedly has encroached into forest areas and green spaces in Greater Kuala Lumpur and Klang Valley Region, consequently reducing the natural resources of the area. The diffused nature of urban expansion has also fragmented the available forests and green spaces. As a result the areas are small, isolated and scattered in the Greater Kuala Lumpur and Klang ValleyRegion. Even though the areas are small, they are significant in protecting and conserving urban flora and fauna. This paper explores the pattern and scale of fragmentation of forests and green spaces in connection with the urbanization processes. The paper also provides information on these urban and peri-urban forests, their characteristics and locations and their crucial roles for recreational and outdoors activities as well as ecosystem services provided to city residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the world struggles with pressing issues like climate change and sustainable development, affecting health outcomes and environmental quality, the Nordic regionsare at the forefront of major global challenges. This paper investigates the role of human capital, renewable energy use, tourism, natural resources, and economic growth in shaping life in the Nordic region i.e., Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland).Utilizing panel data spanning from 1990 to 2020, the Driscoll and Kraay standard error (DSK) technique is employed to analyze this intricate interplay. The study reveals that in the Nordic context, sustainable economic growth, bolstered by investments in human capital and the widespread acceptance of renewable energy sources, has been positively associated with increased life expectancies. Furthermore, prudent management of natural resources has helped mitigate adverse health effects related to depletion, maintaining environmental and public health standards. The thriving tourism industry has also been shown to influence lifespan in this region positively. On the contrary, the empirical finding contended that an adverse correlation exists between carbon emissions and LEX. This research underscores the importance of a comprehensive and balanced approach that considers economic development, sustainable development, and public health in pursuing longer and healthier lives, providing valuable insights for policymakers and regions seeking to replicate these positive outcomes.The findings of this study are both conceptually reliable and empirically robust, providing important insights for the formulation of environmental and health policy. • Sustainable economic growth, bolstered by investments in human capital positively increases life expectancies. • Environmental problems account for 23 percent of global mortality. • The study examined the long-run connection between ECG, CEM, NRR, TOU, HUC, REU, and LEX among the Nordic Regions. • Grossman's healthcare model influences health economics, explaining people's choices for a better demand of healthcare services • Cross-sectional Dependency Test, slope homogeneity test (SHT), adopting the Driscoll-Kraay Standardized (DSK) panel estimation approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid economic development of China has intensified the country's many problems. Among them, energy shortage and environmental pollution are two main problems, which highly affects the economic growth and sustainable development. To achieve more rapid green growth, the innovative technology by reusing the environmental wastes has been widely used since doing so not only decreases the environment pollution, but also further brings more natural resource. The present paper establishes a two-stage structure for evaluating the regional green growth and sustainable development in China by calculating the efficiency of "energy saving" and "pollution treatment" separately. Specifically, a set of models based on slack-based measure approach are constructed in which non-discretionary inputs can be calculated in both resource utilization stage and pollution treatment stage. Comparing with the traditional models, the new proposed models can measure the performance of resources saving and pollution treatment with considering the influence of non-discretionary inputs. An empirical application on Chinese 30 regions during 2011–2015 have been done to illustrate the use of our framework and the performance of regional green growth and sustainable development. Based on the efficiency results, we find that the efficiency scores of the provinces in central and northeast area are lower, which is mostly caused by their poor performance on "pollution treatment". Both the environmental efficiency scores and target values for performance improvement are obtained in this paper to enlighten the corresponding decision-makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In most resource-based regions, their long-term economic growth is slow during the exploitation of natural resources. How to use resource advantages, get rid of resource bottlenecks, and achieve long-term stable economic development are key issues of the resourcebased regions. In view of this, this paper takes the panel data of China's key coal cities from 2000 to 2016 as a sample to explore different ways in which natural resources in resourcebased areas affect economic growth. The results show that resource-based regions benefit from the "resource bonus" in the short term. However, due to being prone to resource industry dependence behavior, these regions have a "crowding out effect" on other economic activities and resources and environment, which affects the long-term economic growth rate. At the same time, resource- based regions are likely to exhibit the "extensive growth" characteristics of relying on physical capital investment to achieve economic growth. The conclusions of this paper not only enrich the literature on the impact mechanism of natural resources on economic growth, but also have some practical enlightenment on how to achieve sustainable development in resource-based regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to address an important issue today, namely environmental protection and establish to what extent we can develop without too significant an impact on the resources at hand. The topic sparked nationwide controversy as well as enough international concerns. Humanity cannot survive without genuine care towards natural resources. The paper aims to present issues related to the consumption levels of society and to what extent there are policies for environmental protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we aim to emphasize and to analyse the importance of resource decoupling for securing a sustainable production and economic growth in Romania. Increasing the resource-efficiency is a strategic objective which should be seen in the context of the European Sustainable Development Strategy and global efforts to achieve a transition towards a resource-efficient, circular and green economy, by decoupling growth from resource use. Some theoretical and methodological background issues are introduced for a deeper understanding of the most important concepts which underpin the current objectives and trends of sustainable economic growth: resource efficiency, resource productivity, resource decoupling. We outline the role of the resource productivity indicator in assessing progress towards the most important objectives of relevant strategic documents for sustainable and resourceefficient economic development in the European Union and Romania. In the tables and graphs presented in the paper, we shall try to compare the level and evolution of key statistical indicators, in Romania and in EU-27, to check the main trends in resource decoupling, the impact of the economic crisis as well as whether these trends may be consistent with the principles of a sustainable consumption and production. The conclusions and recommendations are based on the finding that, in the analysed period 2002-2013, the decoupling of economic growth from the resource use was achieved in Romania due to the economic crisis time (2008-2010). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the reform and opening up, China has made unremitting explorations of a transition to green development and promoted economic development to get rid of dependence on high consumption, high emissions and environmental damage, and shift to a green development mode that can help in the mutual promotion between economic growth and resource conservation, emission reduction and environmental improvement. This paper elaborates China's progress and challenges in its transition to green development and provides responsive measures for future green transformation with Chinese characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper represents the beginning of a research done on the entire idea of sustainable development and natural resources' management. During the paper there were some conceptual limits needed to be premastered especially when it comes to interpreting at today's standards the principles adopted in resolutions that were developed more than 30 years ago. Efficient consumption for natural resources represents one of the key findings when it comes to achieving sustainability on the long run for the concept of development and its vertical and horizontal integration in the globalization mechanism. The paper also reaches the chronological and logical path of developing institutional entities that it would help protect natural resources, but also it would emphasize the idea of empowering sustainable development as an evolutionary and functional concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable development requires that development patterns that meet the needs of the present generation do not harm the needs of future generations. Sustainable development not only demands the sustainability of natural resources and the environment, but also emphasizes sustainable human welfare and resident happiness. Urban sustainable development can be achieved easily at local scales. Urban sustainable development efficiency (USDE) reflects the relevant efficiency of human welfare and resources and the environmental input into an urban system. This paper presents an assessment framework of urban sustainable development based on the reality of natural resource limitations and human welfare needs, and evaluates the performance of urban sustainable development in Chinese cities as a case study. The assessment framework is constructed based on natural resource inputs and human welfare outputs. The assessment index system includes 11 specific indicators, and data envelopment analysis was chosen to assess the urban sustainable development performance of 287 cities in China. The USDE results of the sample cities showed an increasing trend in sustainability over the past three decades, with visible spatial differences. By assessing the urban development of society, economy, and industry in China, the results reflected various characteristics and differences in urban development. The methods and index system used in this study can be used to reveal temporal and spatial differences in urban development resource inputs, human welfare, and environmental support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sustainable development is entrenched. Your field is characterized by conflicting visions and interests that provide feedback for its fragmentation in two main ideological groups which oppose one another. In one trench are the biocentered, who advocate for the prioritization of natural resources preservation over socio-economic systems; the other trench is occupied by the antropocentered, moved by the belief that Nature exists to serve men and that market growth and technological evolution are enough to create sustainability. This loggerheads makes more difficult to construct a common vision for sustainable development, what results in slow advancement, if not in regress for a bigger equilibrium between economy, society and environment all over the world. Then there is the necessity to reduce the gap between these two vision, so that will make room for actions and politics towards a viable sustainable development. This paper aims: to propose a new conceptual perspective for sustainable analyses and decision, which allows a closer approach of both visions. From a "general map", where we track biocentered and antropocentered actors in opposite fields, we begin the construction of the conceptual model. The industrial ecology perspective is integrated to the stakeholders theory and to the Mauerhofer's (2008) 3-D sustainability for the construction of it, which is conceived to reflect instrinsic sustainable development characteristics and it works as a closed circuit, retrofitted. This model fulfills this paper's objective and is its main contribuition. We suggest the following advancements: 1. the model operation development and its ulterior application over the biocentered and antropocentered main demands, present in the diverse discussion forums; and 2. the model adaptation to specific industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper intends to analyse the correlation between the level of economic growth of a country and its rural development. The phrase sustainable development combines the economic growth and the preservation and improvement of environmental and human health, preservation of social justice and assurance of democratic environment in social life. Therefore, the sustainable economic growth provides for the meeting of current consumption requirements without compromising or prejudicing those of the future generations. By adding the requirements regarding environmental protection and preservation of natural resources to economic growth we may speak of a proper sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: It is widely acknowledged that China’s economic miracle has been achieved at the expense of its natural capital and environment. In order to deal with this problem, the circular economy (CE) has been chosen as a national policy for sustainable development. National laws and regulations have been enacted to facilitate the implementation of CE and national CE demonstration projects have been initiated such that national benchmarking activities could be completed. China is the first country to release nationally focused CE indicators so that objective and credible information on the status of CE implementation can be recognized. These CE indicators are valuable metrics for policy and decision-makers and can help achieve CE goals and outcomes. This unique indicator system has not been communicated to international communities. This paper aims to more broadly introduce this unique national CE indicator system. China’s CE efforts are first detailed with various provisions of the national indicator system. A critical analysis of such an indicator system is presented. We show that certain benefits can be gained, but substantive revision is also needed due to the lack of a comprehensive set of sustainability indicators which should include social, business indicators, urban/industrial symbiosis, absolute material/energy reduction, and prevention-oriented indicators. Concerns related to barriers on implementation are also presented in this paper. The knowledge gained from Chinese efforts on CE indicators are valuable to both developed and developing nations seeking to implement sustainable development measures within their regulatory policies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The dominant legal discourse in Australian water law and policy since 2004 has been about incorporating several definitions of Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) rules into freshwater management. The strategy selected to achieve this has been the Regional Water Allocation Plan (RWAP), which is based on hydrological and biological information about the impact of water use. Several aims of the ESD policy reflect the three pillars (environmental, economic, and social outcomes) common to the use of the term in international instruments, such as the 1987 UN Declaration; all ESD formulations in several state laws and the recent Federal Water Act 2007 look at the integration of the three pillars. The State Acts and the Federal Act insist on the adoption of the precautionary principle and achievement of intra- and inter-generational equity-a stunning reversal of previous policies, where the economic use and social aspects of water use were the primary concern. The ESD policy is not without its critics, especially from the farming communities, hard hit by new water plans that have reduced the amount of water able to be allocated by up to 52%. City dwellers have also been critical of water restrictions in urban areas and the higher cost for water supplied through desalination plants where the groundwater is severely depleted. The RWAP is the tool that must bear the brunt of these conflicts; at present, there are 190 such plans. This paper outlines a research agenda, but also makes preliminary comments on the types of conflicts that have existed, and the potential future conflict types. This is based on legal case analysis and some field work, reports of other authors, as well as observations and discussions with key informants in the several jurisdictions. It finds that there are conflicts between users, between the environment and users, as well as several conflicts related to processes used to consult the community, the science used to reduce allocations and the way the water reductions have been administered. The social capital of the community, the extent of the water allocation reductions and the level of trust in the science are key determinants of how many conflicts will exist in any given WAP region. The paper suggests a law reform that could reduce conflicts, i.e. that a duty to co-operate be added to state laws to require persons working on water plans to work cooperatively in the region and with others in the next water plan region. Such a duty would go some way to increasing the achievement of ESD and overcome the fragmentation and introspective approach of some of the early regional water plans. Citation McKay, J. M. (2011) Australian water allocation plans and the sustainability objective-conflicts and conflict-resolution measures. Hydrol. Sci. J. 56(4), 615-629. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate scientists point to a number of unsustainable trends concerning the environment and natural resources. There is also ongoing concern about poverty reduction, labor rights, and other social aspects of sustainable development. Growing numbers argue that change is required, but still at issue is the extent of change and how to facilitate it. In this paper, the focus is on the dominant interpretive schema of influential actors with respect to ideas about science in society, paradigms in economics, and ideological orientations. The authors argue that the monopolistic position of neoclassical economics at university departments of economics in different parts of the world, and the spread of its associated technocratic logic within broader policy arenas, should be abandoned in favor of a more ideologically open attitude that facilitates discussion and debate within academia, public policy, and in civil society more generally. In a sense, economics requires “democratization” with implications for approaches to sustainability monitoring, accounting, and the assessment of projects and policies. The paper provides suggestions for developing sustainability assessment technologies and practices that take pluralism seriously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper considers the arguments for “weak” vs. “strong” sustainability. The weak sustainability position, held by many mainstream neoclassical economists (such as Solow and Weitzman), is that almost all kinds of natural capital can be substituted by man-made capital. The contrary position, known as strong sustainability, holds that many of the most fundamental services provided by nature cannot be replaced by services produced by humans or man-made systems. The paper discusses the limits of substitution from a physical point of view. It concludes that, while there is considerable scope for substitution in some domains, the limits to substitutability in the medium term at least are real and important. In effect, the paper supports the strong sustainability position. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper views the concept of natural capital from an economist's perspective. It begins by drawing on historical debates in economics on the nature of capital. These serve to identify central issues to do with the relationship between theory, empirics and method in the way in which the concept of capital is deployed in economic discourse. It is suggested that these have resonance for current discussions of the concept of natural capital. Against this background, the paper then discusses the way in which natural capital figures in the analysis of sustainability, and pinpoints various incoherencies. Finally, it draws on recent analyses of technical innovation as a possible solution to the problem of sustainability. It is suggested that there may be a conflict between narrow path-dependent solutions to the alleged problem, and more open learning-based approaches. The latter are exemplified by building on and reinterpreting the environmental economist's concept of a quasi-option. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Widespread agreement exists on the broad outlines of the concept of sustainable development for developing countries. This calls for a development model capable of meeting basic needs without depleting natural resources at a rate that robs future generations of their use. In this regard, citizen participation is also considered key to legitimise such policy choices. However, there is considerable disagreement over the substance and meaning of the major components of the concept and the relationship between them. This paper argues that positions in policy disputes over the sustainable development of the forest cluster in two distinct approaches: market-friendly initiatives and grassroots development. Since market economies prevail almost everywhere, the question that is posed concerns the conditions under which the grassroots development approach is included as a significant complement to market-friendly initiatives. This is a political question, requiring an examination of actors, interests and power resources. The paper thus applies a political economy framework to a paired comparison of Mexico, where grassroots development approaches (community forestry) had notable successes, and Chile, where market-friendly forest policy crowded out alternatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The urban environment and resources are currently on course that is unsustainable in the long run due to excessive human pursuit of economic goals. Thus, it is very important to develop a model to analyse the relationship between urban economic development and environmental resource protection during the process of rapid urbanisation. This paper proposed a model to identify the key factors in urban environment and resource regulation based on a green GDP accounting system, which consisted of four parts: economy, society, resource, and environment. In this model, the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method and a modified Pearl curve model were combined to allow for dynamic evaluation, with higher green GDP value as the planning target. The model was applied to the environmental and resource planning problem of Wuyishan City, and the results showed that energy use was a key factor that influenced the urban environment and resource development. Biodiversity and air quality were the most sensitive factors that influenced the value of green GDP in the city. According to the analysis, the urban environment and resource planning could be improved for promoting sustainable development in Wuyishan City. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sustainability challenges faced by islands in the European Union (EU) are not well reflected in EU policy, where the approach to island issues has been incremental and fragmented. This paper identifies EU islands and their main sustainability issues, and argues for a stronger awareness of island issues in EU policy processes. It notes in particular the current restrictive definition of islands, which excludes island states, and the fact that the issues of peripherality and insularity do not fit into any of the categories provided in the EU's impact assessment guidelines. Moreover, since European islands are found at various administrative scales, there is a lack of harmonized statistical data on fundamental factors necessary for monitoring their sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This section presents abstracts of papers on city planning published from 2007 to 2008, including "Streets, Sounds and Identity in Inter-war Harlem," by Clare Corbould, "(Re)making the Other, Heterosexualising Everyday Space," by Kath Browne, and "Rankings and Reactivity: How Public Measures Recreate Social Worlds," by Wendy Nelson Espeland and Michael Sauder.

Despite numerous studies of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC), the evidence is still inconclusive and little has been done to capture the issue of environmental sustainability and welfare aspects of growth in the EKC relationship. Accordingly, this paper aims to investigate the environment-development linkage under a sustainability-oriented EKC framework in 20 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries for the period from 1990 to 2015. The Common Correlated Effects version of Pooled Mean Group Estimator (CCE-PMG) in the context of error-correction based panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model augmented with cross-sectional averages was employed as a preferred estimation technique. The study also used an appropriate U test to check the presence of genuine inverted U-shaped EKC relationship. The results confirm the existence of a modified EKC hypothesis in SSA, but the linkage depends on the extent of endowment of natural resources. Among the growth-related factors, energy consumption and trade openness are found to have a long run detrimental effect on the environment. The study suggests that country's effort for economic development needs to be accompanied by appropriate policy options to ensure environmental sustainability. • Modified EKC = baseline EKC + Sustainability. • An appropriate U-test was employed to check the presence of genuinely inverted U-shaped EKC hypothesis. • The findings support a modified EKC hypothesis for resource-intensive SSA countries. • A monotonically increasing relationship is found in non-resource intensive SSA countries. • Economic development can be seen as a solution to environmental degradation. • Country's growth efforts need to be supplemented with pro-environmental measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the entrepreneurial ecosystem plays an important role in the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, and achieving the coordinated development of economy and environment among cities is important for improving the quality and efficiency of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Using the panel data of 286 prefecture-level cities in China from 2003 to 2016, this study adopts the global reference super efficiency slack-based measure model considering undesirable output to measure China's urban ecological efficiency. In addition, the spatial lag model is used to investigate the impacts of industrial structure advancement and rationalization on ecological efficiency, and the impacts of the heterogeneity of industrial structure and economic development under the distortion of resource dependence on ecological efficiency. The results show that: every one-unit increase in the advancement of industrial structure will lead to a 0.0741 unit increase in ecological efficiency, but the high dependence on natural resources will inhibit the promoting effect of industrial structure advancement on ecological efficiency, and such an inhibiting effect will weaken with the improvement of economic development level; moreover, the influence coefficient of industrial structure rationalization on ecological efficiency is not significant, nor is it affected by the natural resource dependence and the level of economic development. This paper hereby proposes that in the process of promoting green entrepreneurial activity at present, the Chinese government should give full play to the role of industrial structure advancement on improving ecological efficiency, actively break through the constraints restricting the impact of industrial structure rationalization, reduce excessive dependence on resource industries, improve the level of regional economic development, and strive to transform resource-intensive industries to technology-intensive industries to support the sustainable development of a green entrepreneurship ecosystem. • Industrial structure (IS) advancement significantly affects ecological efficiency. • No correlation exists between IS rationalization and ecological efficiency. • Higher dependence on natural resources distorts IS advancement. • Heterogeneity exists in the impact of IS rationalization on ecological efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with the opportunity of using the ecological footprint as a tool in elaborating and correcting sustainable development plans and strategies in Romania. The authors briefly present the concept and consider it as one of the most appropriate approach of the balance society - natural ressources supply. As the experience of other countries shows up, the use of the ecological footprint at sub-national level (region, department, big urban area) could be a viable way to avoid the over-exploitation of natural resources. A list of potential advantages coming from the implementation of this tool in Romania, at region or county scale is also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The paper introduces an index to measure the progress towards meeting the industry-related targets of the 2030 Agenda. • The SDG-9 index benchmarks industrial performance while preserving the environment and promoting inclusiveness. • The final ranking compares performance of 128 economies over the period 2000–2016. • Economic growth should be accompanied by technological changes and efficient use of natural resources. This article introduces the SDG-9 index as a measure of country progress towards achieving industry-related targets of Sustainable Development Goal 9 (SDG-9). The SDG-9 index represents a comprehensive but straightforward approach to assess the extent to which countries have industrialized while promoting social inclusiveness and minimizing natural resource use and environmental impacts. The selection of indicators is based on the global indicator framework for the Goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. The resulting SDG-9 index benchmarks inclusive and sustainable industrial development in 128 economies over the period 2000–2016. In general, industrialized economies outperform other countries, with the top five leading the 2016 ranking being Ireland, Germany, the Republic of Korea, Switzerland and Japan. The calculated scores of the SDG-9 index can show in which dimensions countries represent the leaders or lag behind other economies. Thus, the SDG-9 index forms a valuable tool for policy makers and analysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable development represents an equitable development model for which the main concern is achieving a balance between economic growth and raising the quality of life through the use of natural resources within the planet's tolerable limits. The sustainable development of community spaces is in the pursuit of preserving the right to access resources for future generations through their equitable use, keeping the excavation rate lower than the regeneration rate for renewable resources, and the excavation rate of non-renewable resources not exceeding their substitution rate. On the other hand, regional development implies the diversification of economic activities by supporting investments in the private sector with the purpose of lowering the unemployment rate towards increasing quality of life using different measures in field like: developing the small and medium-sized enterprises sector, the transfer of knowledge and education, rural development, quality of the surrounding environment, health and infrastructure. The regional development policy encourages the stimulation of a balanced growth of our territory by lowering the existing imbalance between regions at the current moment and by reducing the possibility for it to appear. Furthermore, the regional and rural growth of Romania in the context of sustainable development is a short term process. Due to the specificity of Romanian agriculture, predominantly subsistence farming, the inadequate structure and main factor that limits agricultural competitive growth, it implies a closer look over the social sector. Therefore, two major action plans are asserted, firstly developing connective activities in the rural space and the integration into the labour market of the people engaged into agriculture, and secondly the growth of agribusinesses by supporting measures that target the creation of associations towards increasing the efficiency of Romanian agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]