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The article discusses the indicators of sustainable development given from the standpoint of the classical concept of sustainable development. The methods used are analyzed to identify criteria for sustainable development. The indicators of sustainable development have been known and developed for a long time. However, their development did not take into account the regional fix, which would allow creating a permanent set of the most representative indicators for a certain territory. Volgograd and Rostov agglomerations are chosen as objects. A complex analysis of the regional indicators of sustainable development is carried out taking into account physiographic, climatic, sectoral features, the economic potential and ecological well-being of Volgograd and Rostov agglomerations. The work assesses the ecological and economic sustainability of the agglomerations under study, which allows to give the comparative analysis of the territory development predictive models. Today, it is still too early to talk about the effectiveness of achieving criteria for sustainable development in urban agglomerations. The accepted methods cannot be considered effective due to the fact that the efforts of all areas of management are needed. In the forecast, we can talk about a slight increase in the stability of Rostov agglomeration due to capital inflows. Taking into account current trends, Volgograd agglomeration can face a gradual decrease in sustainability requiring an immediate intervention.

Today sustainable development is a widely used term, which has been increasingly influential in recent years. Debates about sustainability no longer consider sustainability solely as an environmental concern, but also incorporate economic and social dimensions. However, while a social and economic dimensions of sustainable development are widely discussed, environmental degradation becomes more and more crucial each year and is likely to reduce human well-being all across the world within the next few decades. The purpose of the paper is to analyse ecological ‘pillar’ of sustainable development, its historical background, main steps towards implementation of ‘new global environmental rules for society. Methodology. The paper is based on statistical information from public sources, reports of different international organizations and institutions, which are used to stress and underline main crucial points of research. Results of the survey show, that environmental quality, economic development and social well-being are interdependent and the main aim of international institutions, independent countries, businesses and society is to achieve environmentally sustainable development. Environmental issues make strong impact on modern economy. Responsible global strategy of development provides the whole society with rules, how ‘wise’ technological changes and economic policy can make industrial production processes less polluting and less resource intensive but yet more productive and profitable. Practical implications. Strategy of sustainable development and it’s three basic dimensions have found practical implication in one complex model, which illustrates the level of development of each country – the Human Development Index, which is focusing on three basic dimensions of human development: life expectancy at birth, mean years of schooling and expected years of schooling and gross national income per capita. Another data, which is used on the basis of sustainable development indicator’s’ is Environmental Performance Index – method of quantifying and numerically marking the environmental performance of a state's policies, which was designed to supplement the environmental targets set forth in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. All these indicators and indexes should be a platform for modern successful socio-economic development of Ukraine. Value/originality. The theme of sustainable development has long history and levels of development, but yet it is very popular and important for each country and the world as a whole. Many issues of this strategy of development depend not only from governments, but from the engines of economic growth – companies. Today the aim for businesses is to create higher standards of living and quality of life, proper ecological situation in the communities in which they operate, while still preserving profitability for stakeholders.

The search for frameworks and indicators of sustainable development has taken a prominent place in this journal. However, some specific aspects have received little or no attention, notably the spatial dimension and the role of international trade in indicator development. Moreover, many sustainable development indicators comprise implicit valuations, weighting schemes and policy objectives, which are insufficiently recognised as such. This contribution tries to highlight these issues by means of a review of a recently proposed indicator for ecological–economic analysis, namely the ecological footprint, that has been developed by Wackernagel and Rees. Its concept and calculation procedure are criticised on a number of points, and it is concluded that the Ecological Footprint is not the comprehensive and transparent planning tool as is often assumed. In explaining our position we will argue that spatial sustainability and regional sustainable development have not been precisely discussed so far, neither in the literature on trade and environment, nor in that on sustainable development. We will defend the view that trade can contribute positively and negatively to environmental unsustainability. Consequently, indicators and models are needed that allow for analysing interactions and trade-offs between such opposite effects.This discussion paper has resulted in a publication in Ecological Economics, 1999, 29(1), 61-72.

The Brittany area is situated in the western part of France, and is currently facing sustainability problems. The end of the 20th century has been particularly significant due to the important agricultural growth and the stress on the environment. This stress has had important consequences on the environment, more precisely in the water context. Environmental degradation in the Brittany has affected the ecology, economy and the overall society of this area. The preservation of water quality has become one of the most important targets to tackle in order to maintain the economical, social and cultural development. Water quality is now considered as critical natural capital in the sense of the process of sustainable development depends on the maintaining of water quality. Our analysis is based on an evaluation for compatible agricultural production from a perspective of strong sustainability. We begin by facing a structural analysis of agricultural production systems that is conceptualised from an approach in terms of joint production applied to the ecological domain in the Brittany case through the model M3ED-AGRI. Our models constitute the support for a cost efficiency analysis allowing us to characterised and classify a variety of alternatives. In a local context, our research approach lays on the use of various indicators using information and communication tools aiming at encouraging participation among stakeholders in the process of evaluation. Hence, it is possible to delimit the constraints of agricultural activities and the motivations of each stakeholder favouring, therefore, the social process of learning.; La Bretagne, région agricole française est confrontée a un problème de soutenabilité. Du fait d'une croissance forte de l'agriculture à la fin du XXième siècle, de fortes pressions se sont exercée sur le milieu naturel, en particulier sur l'eau. La dégradation de la qualité de l'environnement a engendré de fortes répercussions tant aux niveaux écologique, économique que social. La préservation de la qualité de l'eau est devenue un enjeu majeur pour le développement économique, social et culturel de la Bretagne. La qualité de l'eau y est considérée comme un capital naturel critique au sens où de son maintien dépend le processus de soutenabilité. Notre analyse repose sur une évaluation des modes de production agricole compatibles avec une optique forte de la soutenabilité. Conceptualisée à partir d'une approche en termes de production jointe élargie au domaine écologique et appliquée au cas le la Bretagne à travers le modèle M3ED-AGRI, notre démarche vise en une analyse structurelle des systèmes de production agricole. Le modèle M3ED-AGRI constitue le support à une analyse coût-efficacité permettant de caractériser et de classer diverses alternatives d'évolution de l'agriculture. Insérer dans les contextes local, régional, national et international, les scénarios d'évolution permettent la mise en évidence des implications et les justifications quant au choix des alternatives. Traduite au niveau local, la démarche repose sur l'utilisation d'indicateurs insérés dans un outil informatique interactif afin de favoriser l'insertion des acteurs sociaux dans le processus d'évaluation. De la sorte, il est possible de délimiter les marges de manoeuvre et les motivations de chacun ainsi que de favoriser l'apprentissage social.