Page 103 - Azerbaijan State University of Economics

Saulė Augaitytė: Sustainability aspect of economic development

becomes to protect biodiversity in order to guarantee the balance in the nature and the ability to

adapt to faster biosphere changes while maintaining the ability not to lose future opportunities;
Socio-cultural concept reflects relationship between development and prevailing social

norms, and seeks to maintain stable social systems, ensuring protection of cultural diversity and

equality between different generations and decreasing the opportunities for vital conflicts.
So, economic concept of sustainable development defines development that creates all

necessary circumstances for stable long-term economic growth, environmental concept means
that natural resources are used in a way they will be also available for future generations, and

social approach requires that all basic human needs should be satisfied in order to create the life
of quality.

After having analyzed different approaches of the nature and the concept of sustainable

development, it is clear, that majority of science people when defining their own concepts of
sustainable development, refer to the Brundtland report, although presenting its different

interpretations.
Sustainability may not and cannot be achieved once and forever. Each society will be

sustainable in its own way, but no one of them will guarantee the overall sustainability. It is a
mobile objective changing together with social values and priorities taking into consideration the

quality of environment and opportunities of new technologies.

3. Sectoral integration of sustainability goals
While government action is needed to limit environmental degradation, misguided policies

can generate oposite results. This is especially the case of support granted to the sectors that

providing goods and services contribute to meeting human needs, though through their activities,
also impinge on the resources available to other sectors and future generations. I will try to

shortly review the main three sectors – energy, transport and agriculture, while many others like
industry, tourism play important role too.

Energy is a key requirement for economic and social development, but certain forms of
energy can damage environmental quality when they are produced, transported and used. The

main challenges for sustainable energy development are reducing the environemntal costs of

energy producion and use, while extending access to basic energy services in developing
countries, and preserving energy security. In achieving these goals, should be implemented the

measures:

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