Page 100 - Azerbaijan State University of Economics

THE JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC SCIENCES: THEORY AND PRACTICE, V.70, # 2, 2013, pp. 99-112

SUSTAINABILITY ASPECT OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Saulė Augaitytė

An anti-money laundering analyst at the Westen Union, Lithuania

e-mail: [email protected]

Abstract
The concept of sustainability nowadays means different things to different people, and a

large part of humanity around the world still live without access to basic necessities. Sustainable

development is often an over-used word, but goes to the heart of tackling a number of inter-
related global issues such as poverty, inequality, hunger and envirnomental degradation. In

theory, development that is not sustainable and not damaging to the planet is very possible. Of

course though, in reality there are a lot of politics and challenges involved. Most international
actors are still not sufficietly focused on the future implications of theses challenges both

individually and collectively.
As a common concept, the sustainable development covers three major approaches:

economic, environmental and social development, which are mentioned in literature as
interdepended and complementary. The concept is very wide and in some contexts the ecological,

institutional, cultural, ethical aspects are included as well. From the other side, this wide range of

aspects, which are included in sustainable development, make it weakly defined. From this point of
view, it is possible to have some contradictions of sustainable development concepts.

Literature offers many definitions of sustainable development, but it is thought appropriate
to use the classic definition, which postulates that „sustainable development is a kind of

development, that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs“.

This paper evaluates the process of economic development by sustainability aspect.

According to the collected theorethical and practical material, assessing the principles and
systems of environmental economics and sustainable development, economic development by

sustainability aspect is reviewed.

Keywords: economy, sustainable development, sustainability, economic development.

JEL Classification Codes: O1

99