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Chapter

Introductory Chapter:
The Need to Change the
Paradigm - Sustainability and
Development at the 21st Century
María José Bastante-Ceca, José Luis Fuentes-Bargues,
Mihai Florin-Constantin, Corneliu Iatu and Levente Hufnagel

1. Introduction

Since the second half of the twentieth century, the big processes of globaliza-
tion of the economy, coupled with the development of new technologies and the
increase of the population, have led to the emergence of major environmental
problems whose importance transcends beyond the limits of the countries, in a
manner that we could say that they are global impacts. These problems include,
among others, the ozone layer depletion, the climate change due to the greenhouse
gas emission, or the depletion of natural resources.
Industry, as well as modern societies, must face this challenge, changing their
consumption patterns, increasing product life, banishing the concept of “use and
throw away,” and changing from the traditional productive systems to a more
sustainable ones.
Sustainable Development’s most recognized definition was stablished at the
publication Our Common Future, known as Brundtland Report [1], as:
“development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability
of future generations to meet their own needs. It contains within it two key concepts:

• The concept of ‘needs’, in particular, the essential needs of the world’s poor, to
which overriding priority should be given; and

• The idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organiza-
tion on the environment’s ability to meet present and future needs.”

Traditionally, Sustainable Development concept has been symbolized as three

circles representing the triple bottom line of sustainability: society, economy, and
environment. Nevertheless, different authors have proposed alternative representa-
tions, to consolidate the concept of society, environment, and economy as pillars of
the sustainability, as can be seen in Figure 1.
In 2015, the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development, which went into force on 1 January 2016, after the Paris Agreement
was adopted at UN Conference of Climate Change held in Paris in November 2015.
This Agenda includes the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which have
the aim to end poverty, to fight inequality, and to help countries to promote pros-
perity while preserving the environment at the same time (Figure 2).

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Sustainability Assessment at the 21st Century

Figure 1.
Different representations of sustainability concept: as three intersecting circle, literal “pillars” and a concentric
circles approach [2].

Figure 2.
The 17 sustainable development goals [3].

The UN SDGs aim ambitions and necessary targets across a wide range of socio-
economic, environmental, and governance issues in order to reduce the significant
gaps between high-income countries and emerging economies in terms of popula-
tion access to critical services (health, education, public utilities, infrastructure)
and to limit the extreme poverty among the most vulnerable populations from Asia,
Africa, Latin America, or Eastern Europe.
By the twenty-first century, humankind has fallen into a very complex global
human-ecological crisis which endangers not only its economic system, general
welfare, peace, and development but its long-term survival and mere existence
as well. This crisis requires effective international action and coordinated joint

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Introductory Chapter: The Need to Change the Paradigm - Sustainability and Development…
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90655

work, but the humankind has reached this time torn to 195 independent national
states without having an authorized global organization or effective cooperation
system which would represent common interests of humankind efficiently. Natural
processes are basically global, since climate change, overpopulation, and contami-
nation of oceans, rivers, and atmosphere do not know state borders.
Sustainable society is an aimed global way of cooperation which ensures the
survival of humanity, the constant preservation of our living conditions, the pro-
tection of the regulation capacity of the biosphere and its high biodiversity (as the
guarantee of reliable natural operation), the good operation of the global economic
system, the reduction of social tensions (e.g., inequality, famine, extreme poverty,
crime, riots, terrorism, aggression, wars), the scientific and technological develop-
ment, as well as the preservation and development of our natural and cultural
heritage in the long term. The establishment of a sustainable society depends on
macro-level (law, political will, consensus, public support) and micro-level condi-
tions (affecting the everyday operation of individuals, families, companies, and
small communities). When scientists make an effort in order to save, for example,
an endangered species [4, 5], they might not consider this abovementioned com-
plexity of the whole problem, which would make the work necessary.
The sustainability of the human society is endangered by the global human-eco-
logical crisis and a lot of global problems, which are in close relationship with each
other. In this phenomenon, the global population explosion (overpopulation of our
planet) has a central role, because more people have a larger ecological footprint, a
larger consumption, and more intensive pollution, occupy more space from natural
ecosystems, and emit more carbon dioxide through their activities of course.
At the same time, higher population density directly enhances aggression
(crime, riots, revolutions, demonstrations, wars, and terrorism) and the risk of
public health problems, epidemics, pandemics, and the change of land use [6].
Climate change results in significant transformation of the biosphere and biological
diversity pattern of the Earth [7, 8]. Biodiversity crisis (extinction of key species
and the reduction of habitats) and climate change induce each other in a positive
feedback loop, since through the biosphere, climate-regulating ecosystem services
are weakened. Overpopulation and social crisis are in a similar positive feedback
loop, since it is proven that poverty and hopelessness increase the number of off-
spring. People living in extreme poverty have nothing to distribute and nothing to
base the future on; that is why many of them change from “K” to “r” reproduction
strategy, trusting that some of their offspring will survive. Social crisis and public
health crisis as well as social crisis and aggression (violence, crime, terrorism, riots,
and civil war) are in a similar feedback loop.

2. The role of circular economy in achieving SDGs

Linear economy (“take-make-consume-dispose“) has significant limitations in

terms of sustainability through exploitation of natural resources, destroying natural
ecosystems and promoting excessive consumption patterns while generating huge
amounts of solid waste and wastewater (municipal, industrial, and agricultural
sources) which pollute environment through illegal waste dumping sites, landfills,
incinerators, and lack or poor wastewater treatment plants.
Economic growth must be provided based on sustainability main pillars such
as economic, social, and environmental nexus in a multi-scale context from global
standards toward regional and local levels. Future predictions show that population
growth and rural–urban migration will emerge in these regions and human pres-
sures on environment in terms of energy and water supply demands, agricultural

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Sustainability Assessment at the 21st Century

land reclamation, urbanization process, biodiversity loss, waste production, and

plastic pollution are likely to increase to alarming levels. Both developed and
emerging economies must cope with effects of climate change, water shortage risks,
industrial pollution, food security, demographic challenges, and socioeconomic
inequalities. In this context, linear economy is clearly unsustainable in the medium
and long terms, and shifting transition toward circular economy is quite necessary.
This type of economy aims to cut as much as possible the natural resource depletion
through reusing of secondary materials and closing the production and consump-
tion loops by avoiding further waste generation and their disposal in landfills. In
fact, waste management sector must be replaced by resource management (e.g.,
“end of waste”), and in this regard, a new paradigm is born such as “zero waste
cities” as ultimate sustainability goals.
The 3R policy (reduce-reuse-recycle) based on waste hierarchy concept (where
landfill and waste incineration are regarded as the least favorable options) is
supplemented by product life expansion alternatives (repair-recovery-refurbish-
repurpose-remanufacture) and to rethink our consumption patterns and to refuse
to buy nonrecyclable items. These actions are more suitable than material recycling
where additional raw materials and energy are needed for making new products.
However, secondary materials and renewable energy sources should feed the new
circular economy system instead of raw materials and fossil fuels. Composting of
biowaste fraction or anaerobic digestion must be used to produce organic fertil-
izers and biofuels instead to be landfilled. Upcycling or creative reuse and sharing
economy are other mechanisms that lead to responsible consumption patterns. The
circular economy is strongly related to SDG9, industry, innovation, and infrastruc-
ture; SDG11, sustainable cities and communities; and SDG12—responsible produc-
tion and consumption. Also, circular economy is interconnected to green economy
(promoting clean energy sources, sustainable waste management practices, organic
agriculture, etc.) or blue economy (sustainable management of marine resources
and conservation). Full access of the population (urban and rural) to improved
sanitation, solid waste, and wastewater management practices is critical to fulfill-
ing SDG3 (good health and well-being), SDG6 (clean water and sanitation), and
SDG10 (reducing inequalities) and to be able to make transition from linear to
circular economy.
New digital technologies and Internet networks provide new tools for urban
areas to increase their resource efficiency and reduce their ecological footprint
that is becoming the so-called smart cities. A key aspect is to use the “Internet of
things” (IoT) and big data to manage future megacities in a sustainable manner.
According to Ellen McArthur foundation, “A circular economy is based on the
principles of designing out waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in
use, and regenerating natural systems” [9]. In other words, circular economy plays
a key role in sustainability of cities and rural communities. EU policies recognize
the key role of future circular economy in Europe by dedicating a special package
document [10] . This will enforce waste reduction targets and high rates for packag-
ing materials such as plastic, glass, paper and cardboard, wood, aluminum, and
ferrous materials with specific deadlines for 2025 and 2030. The ultimate goal is to
reach 70% of packaging materials by 2030 and recycling 65% of municipal waste
stream by 2035 [11]. On the other side, many developing countries must upgrade
their waste management infrastructure and increase the collection efficiency in the
context of rapid urbanization and demographic explosion expected to happen in
Africa and Asia. Developed countries must invest and expand their waste recovery
and recycling facilities and stop the export of packaging waste or e-waste items into
developing countries (e.g., Malaysia, Indonesia, Ghana, and so on). Urban min-
ing, which focuses on recovery process of valuable materials from used items (e.g.,

4
Introductory Chapter: The Need to Change the Paradigm - Sustainability and Development…
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90655

e-waste flows), and construction and demolition waste stream have a great poten-
tial to feed industry with reliable secondary materials. New product design and pro-
duction systems and less reliance on packaging materials are required to be enabled
across the manufacturing industry. Therefore, the transition of current societies to a
circular economy model constitutes a critical pathway toward sustainability.
This book presents a vision of the current state of sustainability and intends
to provide the reader with and make a critical perspective of how the twenty-first
century societies must change their development model facing the new challenges
(globalization, Internet of things, industry 4.0, smart cities, and so on), in order to
achieve the SDGs of Agenda 2030.

Author details

María José Bastante-Ceca1*, José Luis Fuentes-Bargues1, Mihai Florin-Constantin2,

Corneliu Iatu3 and Levente Hufnagel4

1 GIDDP, Departamento de Proyectos de Ingeniería, Universitat Politècnica de

València, Valencia, Spain

2 Department of Research, Faculty of Geography and Geology, “Alexandru Ioan

Cuza” University, Iasi, Romania

3 Department of Geography, Faculty of Geography and Geology, “Alexandru Ioan

Cuza” University, Iasi, Romania

4 Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Laboratory of Biometrics

and Quantitative Ecology, Institute of Crop Production, Szent István University,
Gödöllő, Hungary

*Address all correspondence to: [email protected]

© 2019 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms
of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/
by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly cited.

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Sustainability Assessment at the 21st Century

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