Global approaches and assessment of sustainable development: a case study of two districts in Russia and Laos

Abstract

The present paper is concerned with the assessment and comparison of ecological and socio-economic development in Duminichy district of Kaluga province (Russia) and Yotlik district of Vientiane province (Laos). This study focuses on the environmental conservation and efficient nature management and proposes a system of indicators for the assessment of sustainable development at the local level. This system includes 43 indicators which correspond to the international requirements and approaches. The assessments were based on the global principles of sustainable development and local characteristics of each area. They helped to determine significant problems in the development of those two districts in Russia and Laos as well as to find the way to resolve the problems.