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Purpose -- This paper is prepared in connection with the H2020 IMPACTOUR project on "Improving Sustainable Development Policies and Practices to access, diversify and foster Cultural Tourism (CT) in European regions and areas". It addresses the development of indicators for the management of accessibility in European CT destinations, responding to the growing accessible tourism market as a driver of sustainable tourism strategies. Methodology -- The paper describes the development of tools, indicators and metrics for gathering accessibility information, which DMOs may use as part of the IMPACTOUR CT destination management system. It reports on global and European destination management systems and tools, and describes key requirements for accessibility indicators, namely: 1) Validity, 2) Reliability, 3) Universality, 4) Availability, 5) Scalability and 6) Operability. Findings -- A set of "core indicators" and additional "optional indicators" are selected for initial testing in the IMPACTOUR Destination Pilot Sites in various EU countries. Pilot destinations and representative groups of citizens and visitors will be engaged in testing and validating the accessibility parameters of the tool and demonstrating how tourists with access requirements can be suitably catered for within the overall framework of sustainable destination management. Contribution -- The paper describes the development of information tools supporting CT destinations in managing the demands of the growing accessible tourism market. The use of accessibility indicators in destination management is part of the holistic, data-driven approach promoted by IMPACTOUR, aiming to ensure inclusive cultural tourism for all visitors and citizens in the host communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To analyse the evolution of sustainability indicators, present in the various national tourism plans in Portugal, and, subsequently, to propose the creation of a tourism sustainability index that can provide a perspective on the level of sustainable development. Methodology: Qualitative methodology of document analysis of the main national tourism plans identifying the indicators used to measure sustainability over time and identifying the different possible methodologies for the implementation of a tourism sustainability index. Results: It was determined the methodology that seems more suited to implement a tourism sustainability index for Portugal, taking in consideration the different indicators analysed and made available by the Portuguese Tourism Board. Research limitations: This paper only proposes a methodology for the calculation of the sustainability index but does not calculate the index itself. This is subject of future work, which will also make it possible to verify the quality of the index itself and to adjust the methodology, if needed. Originality: Although there have been authors that have proposed sustainability indices for other areas of activity, there has never been a tourism sustainability index proposal for Portugal. This may be an important contribution to facilitate the analysis and comparison of sustainable development among different cities/regions/countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable competitiveness as a concept is introduced in the scientific debate in the last two decades. It is addressed on considering economic, social and environmental factors that determine competitiveness in the long run. The paper is focused on measuring sustainable competitiveness at the national level. Two indexes are considered: the Sustainability Adjusted Global Competitiveness Index (World Economic Forum) and the Global Sustainable Competitiveness Index (SolAbility). The paper compares sustainable competitiveness of EU28 countries, EU13 and selected South-East Europe. The author conclude that almost all observed EU28 and EU13 countries have better scores in sustainable competitiveness compared to the economic pillar. The data confirm social sustainability dimension as being interrelated with the higher level of economic development while the environmental dimension is still a challenge for many observed countries. Sustainable competitiveness is a conditio sine qua non for sustaining or increasing current and future welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The essence of the «bioeconomy» concept as one of the modern vectors of economic and social systems has been examined in this paper. This concept is characterized by orientation to sustainable development, reducing the negative impact of economic activity on the environment by decreasing dependence on fossil fuels, as well as gradual «biologization» of economic processes. The development of this concept in EU countries has been analyzed. The selection of indicators for assessing the national bio-economies of EU countries has been carried out and followed by division of these indicators into five groups. For the first time, the importance of each indicator in the group has been examined and its weight coefficients have been calculated with the help of expert analysis. Further promising areas in the field of national bio-economies assessment have been highlighted, in particular, the methodology of an integral index of bio-economy, the importance of its calculation for European countries which can be the basis for the assessment of bio-economies development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green economy, green growth and sustainable development are currently very often used terms. There are many international organizations intensively involved in the field of green growth and sustainable development. Green growth, according to the OECD, is a way how to support economic growth and development, while protecting natural resources, so that we could continue to use the natural resources and environmental services, on which our prosperity depends. One of its aims, especially in developed countries, is green economy building and ensuring social and economic sustainable development. However, it is not always clear how to build a green economy or achieve social and economic activities in the sense of sustainable development. The European Union is a cluster of relatively homogeneous countries, based on similar social and economic development. Ensuring green growth and sustainable development should be a common, coordinated and targeted activity of all European Union countries. The main aim of the paper is to evaluate green growth and sustainable development in the European Union countries using the selected indicators of green growth and selected indicators of sustainable development, including assessment of interregional disparities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper addresses the main strategic benchmarks of the urban water supply and sanitation systems. The authors have studied the results of the biggest Russian urban water supply companies operation for the last three year period. The indicators that were considered: financial profits, investments, losses of water, the structure of costs etcetera. The results were compared with world level parameters. Many companies have really effective investment programs. This activity is related with, on one hand, the forthcoming strengthening of environmental legislation starting in 2020 and, on the other hand, financial support instruments of government. In addition, key directions of development of water economy were analyzed. The socioeconomic development strategy of Russian Federation identifies the need to strengthen the role of private companies. That is why difficulties and pressures of some enterprises were revealed. Furthermore, the water supply industry in Russia is characterized by the modification of institutional administration system. In conclusion, the prospects of the water supply companies according to the improving legislation and state and regional policy in this field are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current development in the European Union countries may be considered heterogeneous, even though their economic and social similarities. Each country achieves its economic and social goals with different success rate. It is similarly in relation to the complex value such as sustainable development. Evaluation of sustainability and sustainable development is problematic, because of sustainable development (resp. part of it) can be evaluated using the various indicators. It is, for example, the evaluation of sustainable development through its different areas (pillars) using indicators belonging to these areas, or using the set of indicators (eg. Indicators Rio+20, Green growth indicators etc.). Another possibility is sustainable development evaluation by aggregate indicators. The problem is that none of the indicators of sustainable development does not evaluate the sustainable development comprehensively. The aim of this paper is to evaluate sustainable development and in european countries using selected indicators and regression analysis. Realized evaluation and its results could be helpful for countries of the European Union, but also for the EU, and could be useful the process of managing their economic, social and environmental development towards sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The air is a mixture of different gases and particular matter, which make up for the earth's atmosphere. They allow for the existence of all life on the earth. With the increase in population and the progress of development, more and more substance of natural origin and on general not occurring in the nature, which may affect harmfully on the environment, gets into the air. Dusts and gases, flowing in excess into the atmosphere, cause local and even global pollution. Since the beginning of 2017 all the time in Poland, people speak about the increase of smog. Poland has become one of the countries with biggest air pollution in Europe. The analysis of air pollutions in an industrial city, Zabrze, in Poland in the period of four years and their evaluation in terms of the requirements contained in the relevant legislations was presented in this paper. This analysis includes the following air pollutions: nitrogen oxides - nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide. Measurements come from urban monitoring point, which is situated in Zabrze, not in the centre of the city, but in the neighbourhood of Metallurgical Park. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The subject of the article is the theoretical and applied aspects of assessing the level of achieving sustainable development of the enterprise. The aim of the research is to use innovative means to develop the concept of assessing the level of achievement of sustainable development in the system: enterprise-industry-region-state. During the study, groups of external and internal stakeholders were identified from the position of 3 levels. There is a significant inconsistency of motives of stakeholders in the implementation of the concept of sustainable development at the enterprise le vel and a diverse vision of the essence and meaning of the term sustainable development of the enterprise. This necessitated the formulation of the concept of assessing sustainable development in the system: enterprise - industry - region - state in terms of external and internal sustainability of development. The obtained results describe a system of indicators of the level of sustainable development in terms of its "usefulness" for the regional and national economy and can be used to develop and implement measures to ensure sustainable development at the individual enterprise, region, industry and state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The waste management is a key factor for sustainable regional and local development. It affects directly to environment – soil, water, air and etc., which are one of pillars of quality of life and living conditions. The article presents an approach for more easy understanding of the set of statistical data that monitored environment and in particular waste management. The waste management has been analyzed at national, regional and local levels. A share of treated municipal waste of total municipal waste generated in Bulgaria, by type of treatment method, has been studied at national level for the period from 1999 to 2016 year. The waste management at regional and local level was analysed by designing of two indexes – the Regional waste management index (RWMI) and the Municipal waste management index (MWMI). The index includes a set of the most important indicators selected based on criteria such as relevance, significant, representativeness and etc. The ranking lists by the RWMI and by the MWMI were created for 2015, 2016 and 2017 year and the changes in places of studied territorial units were identified. The results showed the adequacy of the applied methodology. The problems during process of indicators selection were described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]