scholarly journals The sustainable development of cities with county rights in Poland in the light of selected environmental indicators

2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-84
Author(s):  
Magdalena Kowalczyk

Objective: The environmental aspect plays a significant role in shaping sustainable development in local government units. Currently, efforts are being made to reduce the negative impact on the natural environment of the effects of ongoing urbanization. One of the principal ideas of implementing sustainable development is to meet the existing needs of the current generation without limiting the possibilities for subsequent generations. In assessing the degree of implementation of sustainable development, indicators that can inform about the effects of actions taken by local government units play a very important role. The purpose of this study is to assess all 66 cities with county rights during the period 2016–2018 using environmental indicators as information and diagnostic tools. Research methods: The article shows the results of statistical analysis. Select statistical methods were used. Research results: In the examined period, there was no increase in the share of green areas, forests, or legally protected areas in the examined cities. There was no increase in the percentage of the population using sewage treatment plants. A favorable change was noted in relation to municipal waste collected separately. Findings: The research indicates that using indicators to assess activities for the natural environment allows local government units to assess the positive or negative effects of their implementation. Constant monitoring of the results allows them to take corrective actions in areas where the city achieves poor results. The indicators used to evaluate activities under the sustainable development umbrella make it possible to benchmark the results achieved by the cities studied.

2015 ◽  
pp. 147-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Bobylev ◽  
N. Zubarevich ◽  
S. Solovyeva

The article emphasizes the fact that traditional socio-economic indicators do not reflect the challenges of sustainable development adequately, and this is particularly true for the widely-used GDP indicator. In this connection the elaboration of sustainable development indicators is needed, taking into account economic, social and environmental factors. For Russia, adaptation and use of concepts and basic principles of calculation methods for adjusted net savings index (World Bank) and human development index (UNDP) as integral indicators can be promising. The authors have developed the sustainable development index for Russia, which aggregates and allows taking into account balanced economic, social and environmental indicators.


2001 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 1003-1017
Author(s):  
Julie Boudreau ◽  
Roland Leduc ◽  
James R Wilson

Since the beginning of the 1990s, many researchers and several organizations concerned with development- and environment-related issues have devised methods to evaluate sustainable development at national and international scales. To that effect, they have identified sustainable development indicators. To date, however, very little work has focused on industrial activities. This paper presents a semi-quantitative method allowing evaluation of the environmental aspect to sustainable development, with an application on the environmental performance of the effluent treatment procedure of a paper mill. Eight environmental indicators for sustainable development are considered for evaluation. These indicators are linked to the strategic requirements for sustainable development as stated in the Bruntdland Commission. They are also acknowledged by many authors and organizations. The environmental performance evaluation on the effluent treatment procedure of the paper mill under study shows that this activity meets a relative degree of sustainability. This evaluation allows the identification of the strengths and weaknesses of the effluent treatment with respect to sustainable development.Key words: indicators, sustainable development, measure, environmental performance, biologic treatment, effluents, paper mills.[Journal translation]


2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 299-309
Author(s):  
Mirosława Witkowska-Dąbrowska

The purpose of this study has been to identify the degree of sustainability in the development of the Province of Warmia and Mazury. The theoretical and empirical investigations were conducted between 2003-2014 based on data from the Local Data Bank. Using a comparative indicator method, 20 indicators were developed, with different directions of preference. The evaluation involves the concept of uniform preference, hence the higher the assessment indicator, the better the situation in the evaluated area unit. Our studies on the sustainable development of the Province of Warmia and Mazury suggest that the indicators measuring the environmental dimension and consequently the quality of life of the residents (in this aspect) score higher than the country's average values. It is also optimistic that some progress, however small, can be seen in this area based on the analyzed dynamics of changes.


Economies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 169
Author(s):  
Abraham Londoño-Pineda ◽  
Jose Alejandro Cano ◽  
Rodrigo Gómez-Montoya

This article presents an indicator weighting method for constructing composite indices to assess sustainable development at the subnational level. The study uses an analytic hierarchy process (AHP), which is considered relevant, since it establishes links between the indicators that make up the different sustainable development goals (SDG). For this purpose, 28 indicators defined by experts constitute the base to evaluate the progress towards sustainable development of the Aburrá Valley region, located in Antioquia, Colombia. The results show that health, employment, and education indicators obtained higher weights, while environmental indicators received the most reduced weights. Likewise, the model proves to be consistent using a consistency ratio, which generates the possibility of replicating this model at different subnational levels.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (18) ◽  
pp. 5993
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Huk ◽  
Mateusz Kurowski

Sustainable development is now an important direction for the further development of all economies in the world. It is important to balance economic development with the impact on the environment and our planet. Another direction in the development of management sciences is the emergence of the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility, which considers this impact in three key aspects—economic, environmental and social—in terms of microeconomics. This concept gives companies specific guidelines and tools that minimize their negative impact on the environment. Reducing the negative impact of companies influences the environment and this is what is mainly associated with them. However, companies should also pay attention to internal consistency and caring for employees. Company practices such as the exploitation of people, including children, and injustice in the workplace are some of the factors that can be observed in less developed countries. The article focuses on the presentation of the environmental aspect in the context of the concept of corporate social responsibility. We analyzed individual sectors of the economy in terms of the environmental aspect, with particular emphasis on the energy industry. The study is based on a statistical analysis taking into account data from 1718 companies from all over the world. The aim of the article is to present the environmental aspect in the context of corporate social responsibility in the energy industry as a direction for sustainable development of the economy. The article is based on the analysis of the literature and databases presenting CSR, which was created on the basis of questionnaire research. The article shows which regions of the world are worse and which are better in terms of the environmental aspects of CSR. Conclusions on the main CSR guidelines for the environment are also presented. We analyzed factors such as environmental routines, policies and targets, implementation of environmental management systems, ISO 14001/EMAS certification, environmental reporting, environmental requirements inside the supply chain, the trend of GHG emissions and the trend of energy consumption for their environmental impact. The analysis was carried out on the basis of given regions of the world and individual sectors of the economy, especially the energy industry.


Author(s):  
Vladyslav Smilka

Abstract The field of sustainable development has global goals focused on the repletion of wants of natural resources for present-day generations in terms of sustainable consumption so that future generations can meet their needs. Sustainable development can be achieved by substantially transforming national agency systems. The aim of the research is to determine role of monitoring and evaluation in the system of sustainable development of the territory. The methods used in this study are general scientific techniques and methods – analysis, logical access method, monographic and other methods. Some international standards for sustainable development have been adopted today. Monitoring and targeted indicator ratings are measures that promote sustainable development. The following conceptual approaches to monitoring can be distinguished for the purpose of monitoring: 1) monitoring as information and analytical support for the management decision support system; 2) monitoring aimed at generating new knowledge; 3) monitoring as a system for tracking quantitative and qualitative changes; 4) monitoring as sequential activity algorithm; 5) object state on-line monitoring; 6) proactive monitoring. Aims should be set to manage the sustainable development process and evaluate the effectiveness of the tools used to achieve it. Sustainable development indicators are necessary to establish the degree of responsibility of their values to the criteria for sustainable development.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Marecki ◽  
Agnieszka Wójcik-Czerniawska ◽  
Zbigniew Grzymała

The purpose of the article is to present the activities carried out by the Warsaw School of Economics, including the Department of Economics and Finance of the Local Government, aimed at both activities aimed at the diversified development of the broader sense - the activities of the Universities in this respect and in the strict sense, i.e. the activities of one of the departments, i.e. the Department of Economics and Finance of the Local Government within research and development at the local government level. The activities in the area of sustainable development include the membership to the Sustainable Development Goals Accord, the seat of the Polish branch of OIKOS International . On the other hand, activities in the field of sustainable development strictly mean activities in the field of research and development as well as conducting lectures and postgraduate studies in the field of sustainable development in the broad sense of the word. These activities are carried out by the mentioned department. The activities are therefore implemented on a large scale in order to increase the promotion of the idea of sustainable development in order to support the idea of sustainable development at every possible level, from national to local.


2013 ◽  
pp. 1218-1231
Author(s):  
Guangming Li

This chapter introduces the sustainable development of county-region economy under the constraint of natural resources and environment in China when parts of classic industries along the south-eastern coast are shifting to the poorer mountain areas and middle-western areas. It argues that the county regional economic development at the stage should focus on the agricultural growing and breeding their processing sectors, natural resource exploitation and its processing, manufacturing, tourism, and ecological industrial (shift) park, according to the resource endowment. The local government should guide the scientific planning of county-region industries’ layout, structure, symbiosis, and coupling relationships. By means of environmental cost internalization, region industries’ symbiosis and coupling size, roles of social network, cultivation of innovative culture, guidance of government subsidy, pressure from public monitoring, the market mechanism, and economic incentives will play roles in resource allocation. In practice, the local government or industrial authority can design the “lack in” value chain parts and package them into some feasible and profitable projects open to the market investors, encourage firms to participate regional industrial symbiosis and coupling, and construct a complete industrial chain or network, in order to realize the integration of closed-circuit industry, higher value-added ecological agriculture, tourism and related service sectors, creative economic industrial park, urbanization, and ecological environment. This will avoid the heavy-damage from traditional industrialization and urbanization on county-regional ecological environment, and then realize the harmony development of county-regional recycle economy, society, and environment.


Author(s):  
Liudmila Lapochkina ◽  
Elena Vetrova

Circumpolar territories and the regions related to the Arctic are those rich with natural resources. They have a high potential for the development of mining and extractive industries. The abundance with resources makes the North increasingly attractive for investments. However, circumpolar territories are characterized by peculiar socio-economic, natural, and climatic conditions which taken together frequently pose a negative impact on people and hinder the exploration opportunities of the Arctic resources. In global, regional, and sub-regional levels, the development of the Arctic is heavily regulated by multilateral international treaties. However, the issues of monitoring and assessment of the sustainable development of the Arctic remain open, which stems from the absence of agreed criteria and indicators for assessing sustainability in the context of national, regional, and scientific approaches. It necessitates the development of a specific methodological approach to the establishment of a system to monitor and assess the sustainable development of the Arctic.


Author(s):  
Gaunette M. Sinclair-Maragh

This chapter explores the role of ecotourism in the sustainable development of protected areas. It specifically examines the aims of ecotourism in simultaneously contributing to economic development and environmental sustainability in protected areas. The chapter further analyzes protected areas within the ecological, human, and institutional dimensions, and demonstrates how the outcomes of ecotourism are linked to the economic, social, and environmental pillars that drive sustainable development. The chapter also discusses challenges surrounding the sustainability of ecotourism in protected areas and several mitigation strategies. It concludes that while ecotourism aims for economic development it can have detrimental effects on the ecological resources and host communities if not managed in a strategic sustainable way. The chapter recommends that ecotourism in protected areas should be carried out within the realm of environmental justice where all stakeholders and the natural environment are treated with respect and equity.


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