Suchergebnisse

Sustainable Development as an Aspect of Improving Economic Performance of a Company

This article discusses the methodological aspects of comparative research on sustainable development in order to form the BRICS Sustainable Development Index. The index can be considered as a mechanism for assessing the progress of the five BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) in achieving the United Nations' sustainable development goals (SDGs) in 2015–20. The authors systematize the accumulated experience of international studies, indices, and rankings that address social, economic, and environmental aspects of sustainability, highlighting the key research problems of these works and intrinsic issues of the SDG methodological framework in general. The methodology of the BRICS Sustainable Development Index is described in detail, taking into account the conclusions on the applicability of the available experience for the purposes of the current study. The final section presents the interim results of the Index.

The paper presents the Romanian realities and perspectives from the point of view of reaching the sustainable development model in the context of the recent accession to the European Union, based on the analysis of the indicators listed in the EU Sustainable Development Strategy. The analysis of the economic-social potential for sustainable development and of the environment aspects show that the objectives stipulated in the renewed EU Sustainable Development Strategy of 2006 can be reached, but an extra effort must be put-in in order to overcome the existing substantial gaps in several areas in relation to the developed countries of the EU. The paper-s conclusions show that even if sustainable development is not an easy target to reach in Romania, there are resources and a growing potential, which can lead to sustainable development if used rationally.

This paper seeks to put into a proper policy perspective the current discussion on the attraction of 'sustainable development'. This is attempted by forcing an application of the often rhetorical nature of the argument and thus exposing the difficulties, particularly those of a political and socio-cultural nature, which impinge on the theme. These may inhibit what looks like a universally desirable policy option from coming into action. Reference is made to the peculiar circumstance of Malta, suggesting that implications of the concept are of even greater relevance to our own country. Yet, such a local realization is socially still far from visible in this present day and age. ; N/A

In sub-Saharan Africa, a sustainable economy has received much focus during recent years. The article develops an index of sustainable economic growth as a reference point for future policy. Several needs are established: investment of renewable resources at rates that mirror population growth; a property rights framework that provides adjustments to the market in regard to the value of biodiversity; property rights initiatives linked to the direct management of the stock of natural resources; & allocation of resources to support governance systems that are grounded in the civil society. 5 Figures, 16 References. R. Larsen

Rural development has as main subject the rural space as a system in which the main components (natural resources, people) interfere and have a specific (economic, social, cultural, political, institutional) behaviour. The rural household is the main actor in the rural space, owner of the main (natural, human, economic, cultural) resources, which it uses at its own discretion and whose behavior is very important for the society where it belongs. The need for this study stems from the necessity of the Romanian rural household to get adapted to the new Romanian and European socio-economic development realities. Even though the modernization paradigm has been replaced by the rural development paradigm, the Romanian rural communities and agriculture must continue their modernization process, which had a sinuous evolution rather than a continuous constant evolution as in the case of the developed countries from Europe, taking into consideration the new orientations of the current rural development.