The problem of sustainable development already for about two decades occupies a central place among the issues of social development and the survival of modern civilization. Although many countries implement anti-crisis programs based on the principles of “green economy” and sustainable development, the methodological approaches and reflections of the “green economy” indicators in sustainable development strategies differ among themselves. The notions about sustainable development and the “green economy”, the ways of its formation are different for varied countries.
The transition to sustainable development is attributed to the implementation of “smart changes” in the nature and scale of the world consumption of natural resources and the inculcation in the mass consciousness of environmental ideas, norms and rights. The World Bank has proposed its own “economic” definition of sustainable development as a process of assets managing, aimed at preserving and expanding the available to the people opportunities.
The concept of “sustainable development” has two important integral terminological elements − “sustainability” and “development”. Sustainability is a dynamic capable of the system constantly renewing its qualitative functions under the condition of external influence. A sustainable system must have the ability to perceive regulatory influences, change its qualities in a favorable direction.
For the first time, the term “Sustainable development” was used in Canada in the late 1960s to indicate the maximum catch of fish. Then in the mid-seventies, the term was transformed into the optimal use of available resources with the obligatory condition of renewal of the corresponding population. Only in the 80-ies of the twentieth century, this notion has become widespread in the field of ecology, economics, sociology and other humanities.
The term “development” should be understood as the transition of the system from a lower level to a higher one (progressive development) or from a higher one to a lower one (regressive development). Sustainable development can be defined as a progressive development of the system within the economic capacity of the biosphere while meeting the needs of present and future generations. Evaluation of the system’s stability is the identification of development problems, that is, the diagnosis of the state of the system.
By definition, sustainable development is a development that meets the needs of the present, while not jeopardizing the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Sustainable development involves the integration of the goals of high quality of social life with the ability of the planet to support life in all its diversity. In 1979 French economist René Passet firstly proposed the three-sphere framework of sustainable development. Each of the three constituent framework spheres is a subsystem that contains its criteria
The paradigm of sustainable development has made it possible to isolate the systemic components of sound ideas about the goals, priorities, content and means of the enterprise economic activity on the principles of harmonization.
The beginning of the concept of sustainable development was laid in the middle of the twentieth century due to the United Nations. In 1972, the First World Conference was held in Stockholm, at which the permanent UN body for environmental protection (UNEP) was approved. Since that time, the discussion of environmental problems has finally passed beyond the tasks of only nature conservation, that is, the biosphere.
In June 1992, Rio de Janeiro hosted the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, organized to summarize the results of international environmental protection activities twenty years after the Stockholm Conference. Only after the conference in Rio, sustainable development truly received a new political socio-economic, not just environmental sound. Beginning from this moment, the real “boom” of sustainable development is happening in the world, the number of publications of scientists, journalists, politicians is growing, numerous international organizations and unions, scientific and experimental centers are being created, and action programs on the transition to sustainable development are being developed.
Directions of realization of the sustainable development the concept:
- The eradication of poverty, the fair division of incomes between rich and poor countries, and the solution of demographic problems:
- Implementation of environmentally friendly technologies, renewable energy sources.
- Effective and rational use of material and energy resources at all levels.
- Ensuring equal rights and access to life resources for all people on the Earth.
- Preservation of the diversity of cultures, ethnic groups, peoples.
- Rational allocation of productive forces, optimization of settlement systems.
- Preservation of human health, elimination of dangerous diseases, including social diseases.
- Prevention and overcoming of consequences of natural disasters, technogenic catastrophes.
- Reclamation of disturbed landscapes, conservation of biodiversity.
- Establishment of reliable monitoring systems for the socio-economic, demographic, environmental development of the world, countries, regions, and the like.
Difficulties in understanding the concept of sustainable development are determined by many factors, primarily because it opposes the generally accepted views of the classical economic theory, management practices, and the mentality of politicians, established in the years of nature taming principles. Nevertheless, the world community has achieved some positive results in the transition to sustainable development. In today’s economy, the line between a successful, growing, and profitable company and a stagnant, struggling one is often very thin, and in recent years, the important role of talent management as a deciding factor in which side of that line an organization resides has become apparent.
