Abstract:
The traditional concept of development concerns the human actions that
have modified the environment to create a space in which live adequately
according to his needs. This development paradigm has begun to waver
namely for the negative implications and damages for the environment
and for the ecosystem, such as serious phenomena of global pollution
and scarcity of resources available for future generations (Fischer et al.,
2008). The result is a more awareness on the importance of a correct
management of natural resources and a review of production and con-
sumption patterns, elements that represent the starting point for a cor-
rect economic and social development. In the last decades, human activ-
ities have led to negative output in many areas, for instance irrational
use of renewable and non-renewable resources, climatic alterations,
imbalances in natural ecosystems, air pollution, soil and water resources
caused by chemical agents and organic residues. The consequences of
these actions are harmful for different subjects, not only human beings
but also environment and ecosystems. The negative effects of this eco-
nomic model affect indifferently developed and developing countries.
If we focus our attention on developing countries, we note that despite
being very rich in natural resources (Benghida, 2017) and depending
on these resources for the internal economy and growth, at local level,
multiple environmental and social problems are registered. In fact, the
irrational use of natural resources determines an environmental deg-
radation (Lewis et al., 1999) that frequently involves an intertwining of
other factors of underdevelopment such as poverty, rapid demographic
growth, and social inequalities. An accelerated development not suitable
and unsustainable causes itself a rapid degradation of the environment
and the dramatic destruction of the same natural resources with nega-
tive consequences both for the well-being and for the health of the pop-
ulation (Zhang et al., 2014).
