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Natural resources provide a high quality of life for residents and are often one of a community's greatest advantages for workforce attraction, youth retention, recreation, climate resilience, tourism, and broader economic development. A better understanding of how nature and local economies function together is critical to fostering synergies between interconnected community needs, such as economic development and climate resilience. This paper first draws on literature to define the nature economy, which is similar to the outdoor economy but with a more holistic and interdisciplinary focus on the roles of nature in the economic, social, and ecological resilience of communities. Then, we applied the nature economy lens across three different initiatives in New Hampshire to identify transferable lessons at the intersections between the outdoor economy, community development, and environmental conservation. Finally, we discuss two common themes: the co-benefits of outdoor recreation as a community and development strategy and the challenges and opportunities of partnerships. Engaged scholars and practitioners, such as planners and community development/recreation directors in rural communities, should benefit from this approach.

As an important foundation for promoting social progress and economic development, natural resources play an important role in the sustainable development of cities. However, the increasing demand of human beings for natural resources has led to various ecological environmental problems, such as excessive population density, serious environmental pollution, the continuous decline of total natural resources and per capita resources, all of which have hindered sustainable development. Therefore, the study of natural resources and sustainable development has become the focus of many current scholars. In this paper, CiteSpace is used as an analysis tool to analyze the literature on natural resources and sustainable development over the past 20 years. First of all, this paper deeply analyzes the research status of this field in terms of academic research trends, authors and research institutions, co-occurrence of keywords, etc., and on this basis, it then deeply analyzes its evolutionary path and research hot spots in the past 20 years through keyword emergence. Finally, according to the visualization of the analysis results, the future development trends of this research field are speculated: (1) Grasp the current research focus; (2) Improve the research accuracy; (3) Enrich the theoretical system of research; and (4) Establish an interdisciplinary research system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper proposes an insight into the relation existing between economic development and resource consumption and the associated implications and challenges for forested areas in Romania. In accordance with this purpose, the methods used are both qualitative and quantitative by using a relevant literature review, including international and national reports. In the 1950s and 1960s, Simon Kuznets introduced to modern economic theory the idea that there are certain market forces directly correlated with economic development. After almost two decades of a market economy in Romania, we are witnessing a relative decoupling process between economic development and social inequality. Moreover, the country strives to make the transition to a circular economy by involving all relevant stakeholders and by attracting the necessary financial support. Sustainable development offers the perspective of reaching an equilibrium between economic, social, and environmental aspects. Finding the right tools to assess multiple impacts has always been challenging as regards decoupling the economic development from natural resource consumption. Although there are multiple interpretations of the outcomes of a decoupling process, this paper aims at assessing the evolution of forested areas through econometric research using the Environmental curve of Simon Kuznets. As our main results, we have observed a decoupling process in the GDP growth that will not lead to a decrease in wooded areas in our country, mainly due to rural–urban migration, shifts in consumption patterns (from firewood toward natural gases, etc.) and improvement in the legislative framework in the case of forestry products. Among the weaknesses of the model used are the limited data availability and the reduced number of observations with annual frequency (data were taken only for 22 years), the use of a square pattern instead of a cubic one (it is possible for the results to differ and consequently another form of this curve, either N or N-inverted) or the use of data with a low accuracy related to the total forest areas in Romania. Among the conclusions of the papers, the decoupling process is not a single action process. Our research focused on forest area and the need to connect it with other policy actions related to mainstreaming sustainability, promoting a circular economy or bioeconomy, or developing innovative public policies and instruments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

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]

Reducing inequality and promoting sustainable economic development have become two of the most pressing concerns for global economies. Since economic and tourism development cannot occur without involving issues surrounding natural resources, perceptions and opinions regarding sustainability cannot be excluded from deliberations when it comes to economic development. However, coordination between local governments, business stakeholders, and other community members of a local economy is imperative in order to effectively promote the development of sustainable tourism. Therefore, this paper aims to further explore the idea of developing sustainable tourism and local economic development (LED) by determining whether there are any differences between the local government, business stakeholders, and the community regarding their perceptions of the importance of tourism sustainability in a local economy. This study follows a quantitative approach using primary data collected via a questionnaire distributed to the three groups. SPSS was used to conduct data analysis, with the results indicating a statistically significant difference concerning the natural and cultural sustainability of the Vaal Triangle region, South Africa. For example, business stakeholders believed that natural and cultural sustainability presented a major challenge to regional development. However, the local government did not recognise these factors as significant or challenging to regional development. This study contributes to the research gap on tourism sustainability and its critical role in influencing the local economies. [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]

This paper is aimed at examining the role of African Global Earth Observation System of Systems (AfriGEOSS) in Earth Observation (EO) mission cooperation on the continent of Africa. It discusses the importance of earth observation programs for developing countries as well as the benefits of international cooperative efforts. The paper further examined some collaborative projects on Earth Observation in Africa and their associated problems. It specifically looked at the EO data coordination initiatives such as the Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI), GEOSS, Africa Discovery Broker, etc. It then situates AfriGEOSS in the context of African Space Agenda (ASA) with recommendations especially to the Africa Union Commission for the realization of ASA set goals. The paper reiterated that regardless of whether developed or developing, Earth observation information provides substantial benefit supporting economic development, decision making and policy implementation of all countries of the world. This is as a result of its multifarious benefits to humans in areas like agriculture, forestry, risk management, disaster monitoring, maritime, defence and security and natural resources management. Consequently, the paper argued that the numerous benefits from space assets have driven countries within the continent of Africa to either acquire or develop capabilities in space systems which is devoted to improving quality of life in general. The paper concluded that while space systems are expensive, there is need for continuity and sustainability as a result of its numerous advantages to the human’s society. [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]

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]

Regional efficiency refers to the ratio of the effective total output and the total input of regional factor resources under certain production technology conditions. At present, China's traditional economic growth mode is based on the mode of sacrificing the environment for economic growth. At the same time, the influence and restriction of natural resources and natural environment on human social and economic development are more obvious than ever before. The contradiction between social and economic development, resources, and environmental preservation has become increasingly prominent. Problems such as resource shortage, environmental pollution, and ecological imbalance have exposed the disadvantages of the traditional development model, and so human beings have begun to seek new high-quality development models. Therefore, the research on regional efficiency in this paper is based on the idea of coordinated development of resources, environment and social economy, and multi-objective optimization algorithm, which constructs the evaluation index system of regional efficiency, comprehensively measures the regional efficiency, and inspects the development status. Evaluating the regional efficiency is conducive to analyzing the problems existing in regional development, saving resources, and promoting the sustainable development of the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The circular economy is a strategy of sustainable development that creates functional and healthy relationship between the environment and human society. The theory of sustainable development arises of conflict between population growth and economic growth on one side and limited natural resources on the other side. It is based on principles of long-term development with a focus on the needs of future generations and on preserving essential functions of the ecosystem. The circular economy describes an economic concept that aims to save resources by minimization of consumption of material and energy during the whole life cycle of products, including repair, reuse, and recycling. This paper aims to identify contributions of the model of circular economy from point of view of its utilization within conditions of the business companies, based on content analysis and own analytical research. The first part of the paper is dedicated to explaining the idea (concept) of circular economy as recognized by foreign authors, international organizations, etc. In the second part, this concept is applied to conditions of the business companies from the perspective of increase of production and consumption (increase of revenue), as well as from the perspective of decrease of production and consumption (decrease of costs) by the innovations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Jus et Civitas is the property of Petroleum - Gas University of Ploiesti and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Przegląd Europejski is the property of University of Warsaw and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

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]

On the background of the exponential decrease of natural resources and the continuous and accentuated degradation of the quality of the environment, ensuring the sustainability of economic and social processes has become a reality of everyday life. However, the primary focus is on the degradation of the quality of the environment, which has the main effect of global warming. The idea of sustainable development is based on 3 fundamental pillars, namely the economic, the social and last but not least the environmental. In contemporary society, direct investment is often seen as a vital source for development and even sustainable development. Thus, the desire for development must go hand in hand with sustainable development, implicitly with the quality of the surrounding environment. At the level of the European Union, it is important that all member countries implement common measures on sustainable development. This is the generous context in which the paper aims to analyse the impact of environmental effects in the volume of direct investments. We will analyse the countries of European country in the period 2004-2020, and we will use the Stata program. Thus, following the running of the multiple regression equation, we found that in attracting direct investments in European country in the period 2004-2020, the environmental effects have a positive influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Questions about the effective use of natural resource revenues have in recent years become increasingly central to local and international efforts to address the problem of resource curse in Africa. The emerging and dominant perspective tends to emphasize the links between transparency and accountability. This approach has been instrumental to the opening of new spaces for stakeholder engagement in the bid to transform natural resource revenues into sustainable development benefits. However, despite its contribution, this transparency-accountability strategy is underpinned by a misdiagnosis of the governance failure complex in Africa. Consequently, the approach is unable to adequately facilitate the transformation of natural resource revenues into sustainable development benefits for Africans. Focusing largely on Nigeria, the paper suggests that the key to the effective use of natural resource revenue in Africa lies in addressing the structural inadequacies inherent in African state-nations and the systemic anomalies in its societies. This would require the pursuit of compatible cultural democracy, the strengthening of the technical and institutional capacities of institutions of checks and balances, the diversification of civil society strategies, an emphasis on macro- and microcorporate citizenship issues by transnational corporations, and the global regulations of their socioenvironmental impacts. The paper concludes by exploring the ramifications of its arguments for the resource curse literature. [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]

Exploiting new resource “frontiers,” such as agricultural land and mineral reserves, is a fundamental feature of economic development in poor economies. Yet frontier-based development is symptomatic of a pattern of economy-wide resource exploitation in developing economies that: (a) generates little additional economic rents, and (b) what rents are generated are not being reinvested in other sectors. Such development is inherently unsustainable. The following paper explains this phenomenon, and provides evidence that long-run expansion of agricultural land and oil and natural gas proved reserves across poor economies is associated with lower levels of real income per capita. The paper proposes a frontier expansion hypothesis to explain why the structural economic dependence of these economies on frontier land expansion and resource exploitation is not conducive to sustained long-run growth. The key to sustainable economic development in poor economies will be improving the economic integration between frontier and other sectors of the economy, targeting policies to improved resource management in frontier areas and overcoming problems of corruption and rent-seeking in resource sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows that, for dynamic optimizing economies with different types of natural resource, environmental, and human-made capital stocks, a necessary and sufficient condition for permanently sustaining an optimal utility/consumption level is the stationarity of the current-value Hamiltonian. For economies whose development is not exogenously and directly affected by time (i.e., time-autonomous economies), this stationarity condition generalizes Dixit et al.’s (1980 ) “zero-net-aggregate-investment” rule of sustain-ability, which in turn generalizes Solow-Hartwick’s sustainability rule. For non-autonomous economies, the stationarity condition is not generally fulfilled, and the current-value Hamiltonian under ( over) estimates the true welfare level by an amount equal to the discounted value of the net “ pure time effect.” For the non-autonomous case of a time-dependent utility discount rate, a general condition on the discount rate function (of which the hyperbolic discount rate function is a special case) upholds the results obtained for autonomous cases. The paper concludes with a discussion of policies that promote both optimality and sustainability objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

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]

After the end of the Second World War Taiwan ranked among the poorest countries of the world. In spite of its limited natural resources, it has succeeded in building a dynamic and open free market economy that is driven by industrial manufacturing and reached a gross domestic product per capita at purchasing power parity of more than $50,000 in 2017. In a relatively short period of time, Taiwan achieved impressive industrialization and high economic growth. The aim of the paper is to identify and analyse in brief the key factors that conducted Taiwan towards sustainable economic development. The methodological approach was based on a quantitative method and a case study. The paper shows that the role of state in economy, the rapid industrialization and the importance of education are among the key factors that enabled Taiwan's sustainable economic development. The "state and market" approach proved to be highly beneficial for Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We address in this paper the question of the existence of a Social Welfare Function that would be sustainable and would allow us to obtain solutions to optimal growth models. We define sustainability by two new axioms called Never-decisiveness of the present and Never-decisiveness of the future. We first show that a SWF which has Never-decisiveness properties cannot be defined on a ball of $$l_{\infty }^{+}$$ . We must (i) restrict to the set of utility streams for which the value of the SWF is finite and (ii) introduce additional assumptions in order to obtain the Never-decisiveness properties. Our main result in this paper is therefore to show that the undiscounted utilitarian criterion is an anonymous and never-decisive criterion for optimal growth models. We consider the set of utilities of consumptions which are generated by a specific technology, namely a technology with decreasing returns for high levels of capital, and restrict ourselves to good programs, i.e., any program for which intertemporal utility is well defined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The idea of sustainable development is without doubt the most used phrase, with reference to environment in the last half century. Sustainable development has been defined in many ways, but the most frequently quoted definition is from Our Common Future, also known as the Brundtland Report. Sustainable development - the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs - has continued to evolve as that of protecting the world's resources while it's true agenda is to control the world's resources. Environmentally sustainable economic growth refers to economic development that meets the needs of all actors involved without leaving future generations with fewer natural resources than those we enjoy today. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the durable form of contemporary development as a stable relationship between human activities and the natural world, which does not diminish the prospects for future generations to enjoy a quality of life at least as good as our own. The idea of green economic growth, synonym to the prevalent concept of 'Sustainable Development', is not new, many cultures over the course of human history have recognized the need for harmony between the environment, society and economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper presents the theoretical foundations for the sustainable development of a Russian region's industrial system. For this study, we made an assessment of the production activities of the Rostov region's light‐manufacturing enterprises. The light‐industrial sector of the Rostov region's economy has been characterized, and the level of sustainable development of the region's enterprises has been calculated. The algorithm of development strategy was developed based on the rational use of natural resources. We have worked out several innovative proposals and calculated the cost‐effectiveness of their implementation in the region's light‐manufacturing enterprises. The economic and mathematical decision‐making model is based on the analytic hierarchy process, and the optimization calculation results that we obtained are presented in the article. [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]

Copyright of Hydrological Sciences Journal/Journal des Sciences Hydrologiques is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to present a "human ecology economics (HEE)" framework for understanding economic growth and development challenges in Eastern Europe. Design/methodology/approach - The HEE approach relies on evolutionary and complex systems processes; it expands the field of ecological economics by incorporating interdisciplinary material from the humanities; and it allows a long-run perspective with a focus on sustainability of human systems. Using this framework and primary research from Hungary, Estonia, and Azerbaijan, challenges to Eastern European development are identified. Findings - The main limit to Eastern European sustainable development is not "production capital", i.e. the availability of natural resources, fixed human-made capital, and intermediate consumption, but instead shortages of "transaction capital", i.e. "social capital, informational capital, and financial capital." Research limitations/implications - Rigorous analytical models of, and precise predictions of, change in the human ecology are at present not possible using evolutionary and complex systems approaches; however, Eastern Europe can be fruitfully studied through the HEE approach, and certain simulation methods and lessons from recent history are suggested. Practical implications - Greater support for various kinds of transaction capital is recommended, including for social and communication networks, for information exchange between small and medium size businesses, for innovation and creative learning by doing, for financial intermediation, for better inter-party cooperation at the national level, etc. Social implications - The need for greater social cooperation, including a reduction in discrimination exercised by dominant individuals or groups, arises as a more important pre-condition for sustainable economic growth than is commonly believed. Originality/value - Scholars, policymakers, and practitioners might appreciate the more comprehensive interdisciplinary framework for understanding economic growth and development challenges in Eastern Europe, especially the role played by intangible belief systems, social agreements, and levels of cooperation. [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]

One of the recurring themes in the sustainability literature has been the extent to which a loss of natural capital can be made up for in welfare terms by an increase in other forms of capital. This issue was raised early on in the debate on sustainability by Pearce and has never really been resolved. This paper is an empirical attempt to measure the degree of substitutability between different forms of capital. A nested CES production function is used to allow flexibility in the estimated elasticities of substitution. Also, within this specification, natural resources and other inputs are combined in different levels of the function, thus allowing for different levels of substitutability. Institutional and economic indicators are also incorporated in the production function estimated. Results show that the elasticities derived from functions involving land resources were generally around one or greater, implying a fairly high degree of substitutability. Furthermore, changes in trade openness and private sector investment have a statistically significant and direct relationship on the efficiency of production and hence on income generation. No statistically significant relationship between income and any of the institutional indicators was found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing resource and environmental pressures have impeded China's efforts to quickly promote its people's quality of life, while protecting its natural environment. Due to lack of resources, technologies and capital, China needs to seek a more integrated development strategy. Industrial ecology (IE) may be one solution as it aims at optimizing the use of materials and energy in products, processes, industrial sectors and economies by systemically mimicking natural systems in an industrial setting. The relevant practices and experiences in the developed world have proved that there is a degree of effectiveness and efficiency to development through the application of IE. It is even more critical to apply the principles of IE in China, where resources are scarce. However, compared with developed nations, China faces different environmental, economic and social constraints. Therefore, China has to adopt different approaches to implement the concept of IE. In this paper, we first review the current practices in eco-industrial development in China. Then the advantages and barriers to applying IE in China are analyzed and recommendations are provided. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Waste is a by-product of economic growth. Consequently, economic growth presents challenges for sustainable resource management and development because continued economic growth implies continued growth in waste outputs. Poor management of waste results in the inappropriate depletion of natural resources and potentially adverse effects on the environment, health and the economy. It is unsustainable. This paper begins by outlining the magnitude of and the current response to the growth in the quantity of waste outputs. This is followed by a consideration of why the international response to date, including the Rio Declaration and Agenda 21, fails to address the issue adequately. The paper concludes with a discussion on why and how an international treaty or other measure could advance sustainable development by providing an appropriate framework within which to address the problem. [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]

This paper explores the relationship between sustainability concepts and contractarian principles of distributional fairness. A commitment to equality of opportunity between contemporaries entails that life opportunities should be nondiminishing from generation to generation. Defining sustainability as nondeclining utility is analytically suggestive but practically problematic given the uncertainties that surround future preferences and technologies. Life opportunities may be sustained, however, by providing future generations with specific endowments of reproduced capital, technological capacity, natural resources, and environmental quality. In this setting, capital-resource substitutions are defensible only if there is compelling evidence that they would benefit both present and future generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper hypothesizes that fiscal policy is one important factor determining whether or not environmentally and socially sustainable economic growth is possible. We postulate that tax policies affect the incentives to make the economy more or less dependent on natural resources and the environment as factors of production. So-called pro-growth tax policies consisting of a low tax burden, low direct taxes but high indirect ones, affect the composition of factor endowment, often inducing overinvestment in physical capital and underinvestment in human capital, including education and health. These policies in part explain a structure of production heavily dependent on natural-resource-based and environmentally dirty industries. Moreover, these tax policies induce high levels of inequality, which ultimately may render economic growth socially and politically unsustainable. This analysis has important implications for Chile and for other developing countries, especially in Latin America, which are highly dependent on natural resources and have highly unequal income distributions. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to retrace the evolution of mathematical models focused on relation and interaction between economic growth, sustainable development, and natural environment conservation. First, generic defensive expenditures are introduced into a common-property harvesting model in order to favor the species growth. Second, a transition model comprising both harvesting and nonharvesting values of wildlife biological species emerges. The latter gives rise to a group of purely nonharvesting models where anthropic activities and economic growth may have positive or negative impact on the natural evolution of wildlife species. Several scholars have proved that optimal strategies that are relatively good for harvesting purposes are not simply 'transferrable' to the context of conservation of wildlife biological species with no harvesting value. In addition, the existence of optimal policies for long-term conservation of all biological species (with or without harvesting value) cannot be guaranteed without having relatively large species populations at the initial time. Therefore, all such strategies are incapable of enhancing the scarce populations of endangered species and, therefore, cannot save these species from eventual (local) extinction. As an alternative, policymakers may soon be compelled to design and implement short-term defensive actions aimed at recovery and enhancement of endangered wildlife species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the critical relationship between climate change and sustainable development. As we have recently seen, energy availability may limit the ability of countries to continue their economic advancement, made critically evident recently in Japan after the earthquake and tsunami. Nuclear energy was considered their means of achieving development goals by reducing their need to import oil and coal. This and other nuclear disasters, e.g. Chernobyl and Three Miles Island, have threatened the availability of clean water. Alternatives such as natural gas hydraulic fracturing, coal mining, and off-shore oil drilling also threaten water resources. Recommendations will be made to achieve a sustainable world economy to prevent further climate change and to increase the efficiency of water usage. The issues involved with sustainable development include human welfare, ecological stability, and economic prosperity. Fundamentally, sustainable development entails making strategic policy decisions for the effective and efficient use of resources for the benefit of the most constituencies. There are immense opportunities to reduce both consumptive and non-consumptive demand for water. These include installing more low-flow home appliances, adopting more efficient irrigation methods, "green architecture" such as agriculture on roofs in cities, and recycling of rainwater. Economic tools have also reduced consumption by making water more expensive, i.e. the more you use, the higher your per-gallon rate. The United States uses less water than it did 25 years ago. Water management will be essential to lessen the depletion of water resources, However, it cannot be expected to counter the effects of a warming environment. Without radically reducing the use of fossil fuels, world temperatures may rise 2.4 to 6.4 degrees centigrade by 2100. If climate warming continues to increase, we can expect the water shortages to increase with it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper introduces green sustainable resources to the traditional triple helix of industry, academia and government, revealing the impact of geographical clusters and factor endowments on green competitiveness in the global economy. More specifically, this paper evaluates how water-intensive nations develop additional competitive advantages in a green economy. This analysis demonstrates that abundant water resources will not warrant economic growth per se but that incorporating a resource like water into a green quadruple helix will provide the framework needed to design and expand water-intelligent economies. This may result in a new generation of green products, services, and technologies capable of stimulating the world economy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Economic development, initially understood and seen as a growth, receives in the 21st century a human side component, decreasing quantitative in favor of qualitative. The tourism industry has experienced a continuous growth, based on natural resources, with adverse effects, and now it's time for efforts to move toward finding a balance between tourism and the environment. Thus emerged the concept of sustainable tourism and, in a broader sense, sustainable development of tourism. This paper proposes a theoretical crossing in the literature, following growth, development and sustainability wire against the background of the relationship between tourism and environment, offering two solutions - tourism niche orientation and social responsibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the theoretical and practical approach of the economic life, more often appears the idea of sustainable economic development, of reconciliation between man and nature in attracting and using its resources without interfering in its natural movement and evolution. In this paper we are trying to bring into light the relation between the economic development and the mineral resources, in terms of achieving sustainable development. The place and role of natural factors in the market economy is revealed by bringing to the forefront a number of arguments that demonstrate their vital position in the sustainable growth and 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]