Notion of sustainable development and its practical significance.

Straipsnyje pateikiama darnaus vystymosi samprata pažinimo, būties ir vertybiniu požiūriu, analizuojama termino istorinė kilmė. Straipsnis yra analitinio-apžvalginio tipo, čia gausu teorinių ir praktinių reiškinio analizės pastabų, kurios aktualios formuluojant ir įgyvendinant darnaus vystymosi tikslus. Didelis dėmesys skiriamas darnaus vystymosi uždaviniams ir apibendrintiems rodikliams, kurie apima aplinkos, socialinę ir ekonominę sritis, pabrėžiama darnaus vystymosi reikšmė žmonijos išlikimui ir klestėjimui. Autoriai pabrėžia pragaištingą kraštutinės ekonomizacijos įtaką socialinei bei aplinkosauginei sritims ir teigia, kad tik darnus ir tvarus vystymasis turi ateitį, jeigu nenorima išeikvoti būsimųjų kartų išteklių bei norima pagerinti dabartinių kartų socialinę ir aplinkos kokybę.Progressive world politicians, economists, and civil society leaders try to prevent risks to the existence of the humanity, its health and its social quality which are experienced and may be experienced in the future. The technocratic approaches to economic growth that were prevailing at the end of the last century were replaced by the concepts of zero or low growth as well as the conciliation of society and environment, issues of “global balance” and “capacity” of ecological systems. Finally, the concept of sustainable development which is the main focus of this article has been formulated. In the article the notion of “sustainable development” is analysed gnoseologically, onthologically and axiologically, and the historical meaning of the term is presented. The article is of analytical review type, which is implicating the remarks on theoretical and practical analysis of the phenomena by formulating and implementing the aims of sustainable development. Substantial attention of the readers is drawn to the goals and aggregated indicators of sustainable development, which encompass the environmental, social and economical aspects, and the significance of sustainable development for mankind’s survival and prosperity is underlined. The definition of sustainable development officially adopted by the United Nations means that: 1) future needs cannot be sacrificed to current needs; 2) the current world system is not sustainable and it needs to be modified in order to meet current needs; 3) the economic future of mankind is linked to the integrity of natural systems; 4) we must act in a way that preserves the ability of future generations to meet their needs before they can realize them themselves; 5) we will not protect the environment until we improve the economic prospects of the world’s poorest people. The authors stress the harmful impact of the extreme economization of social and environmental spheres, and affirm that only the balanced and sustainable development has the future, if we do not want to take away the resources from the future generations and wish to improve the present social life and environmental quality. Lots of discussion concerning the translation of the term “sustainable development” to Lithuanian language took place, for example – harmonious development, balanced development, sparing development, etc. Historically it was not a long way for the concept development from the end of XX century till nowadays, and there are difficult tasks for its implementation standing ahead, as hyper-economization and short-term economical aims so far dominate. Quantitative parameters in terms of development theories carry high social and environmental risks, for example, the little-known and extremely dangerous theory and practice of “developmental welfare”, which contributed to the subordination of the new East Asian industrialized countries to unconditional economic development though, with regard to sustainable development approach, economic, social and environmental aspects should be balanced. In fact, it would be valuable if economic factors were subjected to the solution of social and environmental problems. In any case it is possible to grasp the sustainable development fenomenologically as an emerging challenge for human existence, and to define the sustainable development in a positivistic manner, as the sparing development without economical extremalities, and with balanced economical, social and environmental aspects. The implementation or ignoring of sustainable development nowadays is determined by the way how countries are trying to reach 17 goals of “The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” realizing 169 tasks and meeting more than 200 indicators. Lithuania, as one of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, according to sustainable development indicators, takes the medium position in the world, with its Baltic neighbours presenting much better absolute and comparative indicators. The lower position of Lithuania, compared to Estonia or even more to Latvia, in the dashboard of Sustainable Development is rather unexpected, because according to many other macro-economic and macro-social indicators the Baltic countries are more similar, while in the West the Baltic countries are considered as a single economic-social-cultural-psychological region. It is also surprising that Lithuania lags behind Belarus by 2,3 points, or even nine places in the ranking of countries, which supports the statement that a freer economic market and a formally functioning political democracy, which characterizes Lithuania in comparison to Belarus, does not create an advantage in achieving sustainable development goals. Although the Lithuania’s situation with regard to sustainable development goals is still a cause for concern, the obligation to publish annually data on the progress and global publicity gives hope that the sustainable development goals can be achieved by the year 2030. Above all, sustainable development should not be seen as a political-administrative coercion, but as an inevitable necessity. Sustainable development has enormous significance for the present and future survival of mankind and certain countries, as lack of awareness of its importance may imply environmental, social and economical catastrophes. The reaving of resources by present generations from future generations may be considered as the serious crime against humanity