CONCEIVING THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES OF OAȘ AREA, SATU MARE COUNTY, ON THE BASIS OF NATURAL CAPITAL ASSESSMENT

Abstract

The sustainable development essentially depends on natural capital or environment assets and conceiving a sustainable development strategy at local level means first to evaluate it, through inventorying all types of natural resources: vegetable, animal, protected areas, forest and water resources, crops and farming resources, land and pastures and meadows. The area called Țara Oașului, located in the north-eastern part of Satu Mare county has some particular features: a wealth of natural resources (such as forests, stone, mineral water, wild flora and fauna), population with a high level of income and luxurious but uninhabited houses, a high level of migration for work abroad (from the very beginning of nineties), a lack of labour force and active population, a reduced life expectancy, and specific popular traditions (costume, events) and culture. We carried out a field reseach, by applying a questionnaire to local population, authorities and experts in order to obtain an estimation of natural resources, as volumes and ways of exploitation (for own consumption or market selling) and the main trends in local traditional employment. The research conclusions are valuable in order to conceive the sustainable development strategy of the area, taking into consideration the local capabilities to use the existing natural resources by protecting the environment, to build an appropriate social capital and to attract the required for economic growth human and financial resources.

Keywords

• sustainable development
• natural capital
• natural resources
• agriculture
• environment and development