SEEU Review vol. 5 Nr. 2 (pdf) - South East European University

Zoran Sapuric, PhD and Vullnet Zenki, MSc.
quality of the environment within the overall quality of human living and the
importance of the issue on environment. The concept of sustainable
development emerges as a result of the invigoration of the awareness about
the negative effects of the industrial and economic development from the
18 th century to the 20 th century. This development was based only upon the
exploitation of natural resources and the swift increase in industrial
production without any serious analysis about the negative effects of this
kind of development on the environment and without relating it to the
elementary needs of people. The idea that in order to successfully realize the
concept we need to reduce the differences between the developed and
developing countries is constantly gaining importance. The developed
countries should also offer greater real (not only declarative) technological,
scientific and financial support. This is an absolutely just approach if we take
into consideration that developed countries have greater opportunities and
capacities but at the same time they are also the most responsible for the
unsustainable exploitation of natural resources and degradation of the
environment.
The sustainable development emphasizes the danger of limited natural
resources and promotes the development of new technologies which help
more rationally use these resources. In this context, the term “Ecological
footprint” is quite often used, which points out the needs of a certain
population in a city, municipality, region or country for a certain kind of
resources for a defined period of time, e.g. water or other resources such as
forest or mine resources. According to Sharon Beder, “Ecological
Footprint” is a tool which can determine and estimate present and future
needs for certain natural resources, taking into consideration the level of
pollution and endangerment of a certain kind of natural resource for a given
area. When talking about sustainable usage of natural resources, the needs of
present and future generations should be seen through the prism of natural
renewability of resources, such as the qualitative and quantitative estimation
of the regenerative ability of the nature. In this context, we should bear in
mind that a lot of resources cannot simply be replaced and that there is no
possibility to compensate for their loss. That is the case with, for instance,
the damage to the ozone layer. That is why one of the crucial messages of
the sustainable development calls for more reasonable and moderate human
approach and behavior towards all areas of his activity.
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