Sustainable Regional Development : Approches for the North East Region-Romania

The sustainable development covers at least three factors: economic, socio-cultural and environmental. They have been divided in literature (2005) between what is to be sustained: nature, life support, community, and what is to be developed: people, economy and society. The notion of sustainable development (1987) is seen in relation with the futures generations, as “development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their own needs”.


Introduction
The sustainable development covers at least three factors: economic, socio-cultural and environmental.They have been divided in literature (2005) between what is to be sustained: nature, life support, community, and what is to be developed: people, economy and society.The notion of sustainable development (1987) is seen in relation with the futures generations, as "development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their own needs".only be achieved by economically, socially and environmentally sustainable actions integrated by a sustainable management that cover all these aspects.Even if most of people can relate these actions only with measures that reduce their own level of poverty, other aspects regarding preservation of natural resources, protection of ecosystems are also major challenges for human future.Some directions towards sustainable development are indicated by Chai Ning and Dong Hoon (2011) who consider that sustainable development has become the theme of today's world in different fields, and some renewable resources as tourism, should be continuously developed and utilized to contribute to the sustainable development.In the view of Berke PR (2002) the sustainable development can be reached by a balance among the three 'E's: environment, economy and equity.
The targets of sustainability need to be adapted in relation with the specific characteristics of each region of development.In the European Union regional disparities appeared after each enlargement but regional policies budget was considerable in the last decades, and covered convergence, competitiveness and employment targets.
The European Union policy established new targets for the year 2020 [5] and most of them are directly related with sustainable development in terms of promoting a more resource efficient, greener and more competitive economy

Material and Method
The

Results and Discussions
First we analyzed the key factors of social sustainable development in the North East Region, under aspects of demographic changes.In 2012 the population of North East Region of Development represented 17.3% of national population.
The most populated county of the region was Iasi, the former capital of Romania between 1916 and 1918.The population of the North East region was concentrated mostly in the rural areas, representing 56 % of total population.Among the region's counties, Neamţ County population is mostly located in the rural areas, while Iasi County is the county with the highest rate of urbanization.From 1990 to 2012 the total population of the region decreased by 2.2 %, from 3.78 millions to 3.7 millions, but this was bellow national decrease which was by 8 % per total and by 12 % in rural areas.From demographic point of view, sustainable development can be affected by aspects as accentuated aging of the rural population and migratory movement of population, low life expectancy in urban and rural areas of the region and negative natural growth rate of the North-East Region of Development.This last indicator was -0.9 ‰ in 2009 and experienced higher negative values in prior years.

Economically active population trends in the North East Region comparative with Romania between 2005 and 2012 (thousands peoples), Data source: NIS Romania, 2013 _____________________________________________________________________________
______________ Silviu Beciu and Raluca Georgiana Lădaru (2014), Journal of Eastern Europe Research in Business and Economics, DOI: 10.5171/2014.709981.Data source: NIS Romania, 2013 Fig.1: Demographic changes between 1990 and 2012 in The North East Region of Development, comparative with Romania, Data source: NIS Romania, 2013 Labors resources in the North-East Region of Development cumulated in 2010, more than 2300 thousand persons, from which 52 % were male and 48% female.The indicator economically active population shows a decrease between 2005 and 2010 in the North East Region comparative with national level, from 18.1 % to 17.9 %, but in absolute terms there is an increase of region level, which means that if this trend will continue in the next years, there will be no shortage of labor supply for the production of economic in the region.______________ Silviu Beciu and Raluca Georgiana Lădaru (2014), Journal of Eastern Europe Research in Business and Economics, DOI: 10.5171/2014.709981.

Employment rate evolution in the North East Region comparative with Romania between 2005 and 2012 (%)
_____________________________________________________________________________ ______________ Silviu Beciu and Raluca Georgiana Lădaru (2014), Journal of Eastern Europe Research in Business and Economics, DOI: 10.5171/2014.709981.

GDP level in the North East Region comparative with Romania between 2005 and 2012 (lei) _____________________________________________________________________________
______________ Silviu Beciu and Raluca Georgiana Lădaru (2014), Journal of Eastern Europe Research in Business and Economics, DOI: 10.5171/2014.709981.

Total R&D expenditure as GDP share (%) in the North East Region comparative with Romania between 2005 and 2009 _____________________________________________________________________________
______________ Silviu Beciu and Raluca Georgiana Lădaru (2014), Journal of Eastern Europe Research in Business and Economics, DOI: 10.5171/2014.709981.

The number of agricultural holdings in the North East region comparative with Romania between 2005 and 2012
and region level, in terms of GDP per inhabitant and average monthly nominal gross earning.The number of entrepreneurs decreased in the last years in the context of global economic crises, and the SMEs sector didn't produced the expected economic growth.The R&D activities are bellow national and EU targets.But the region is well situated comparative with national level in terms of employment rate and trend of economically active population, and environment indicators.