Green Growth Technologies In Sustainable Rural Development: Economic Aspect

Abstract

Green growth technologies have recently been actively used to improve the management of agricultural resources, ensure well-being through a more sustainable use of the rural potential. Regions with agrarian specifics should form a green growth strategy, since it is green technologies that can become a driver of territorial development. The dependence of rural sustainability on green technologies has been identified through the relationship between resources and agricultural production. Crop yields and animal productivity are determined in the context of temporal data, the relationship between the features is estimated using the correlation coefficients, the indicators presented in the official statistics of the Russian Federation and the constituent entities of the Siberian Federal District are used. The yield of grain crops, milk yield per cow act as linearly dependent features, a model of the correlation matrix is created. The studies established the determination coefficient, which made it possible to conclude that the yield of cereals is influenced by the volume and timeliness of the application of mineral and organic fertilizers. Dairy productivity depends on the reproduction abilities of animals, feed consumption and crop yields. Green technologies have been identified as contributing to reducing the risk of environmental impact, ensuring safety, resource efficiency, environmental friendliness, and contributing to the evolution from more primitive production methods to more economical, energy-efficient and socially adapted ones.

Keywords: green technologies, rural areas, sustainable development

Introduction

The sustainable development of territories in the context of ecological representation is the main focus in the development of national, regional and organizational macro-strategies.

At the beginning of 2015, the UN Agenda outlined 17 sustainable development goals (SDG) and indicators for their achievement by 2030. The attitude to the environment is at the heart of each of these goals, and environmental sustainability as a decisive factor contributes to the achievement of the SDGs and ensures the health of the population on the planet (Bobylev, Kiryushin, Kudryavtseva, 2019).

Green technologies play a significant role in achieving the indicators set out in the sustainable development goals. Green growth technologies have recently been actively used to prevent pollution, eliminate adverse climatic impacts through the transition to green, cleaner energy, adapt to climate change, improve the management of agricultural resources, and ensure well-being through more the sustainable use of rural resources.

The implementation of the main goals is defined through a number of criteria and on the basis of certain principles that are critical in the realities of the green economy. The criteria of efficiency, accessibility and transparency, the principles of universality, integration and innovation enable synergy, food security, contribute to the development of the economy and meet the goals, which combined suggest a close relationship between the use of green technologies and the sustainability of rural development. To confirm this, it can be noted that the UNEP report states that the green economy is aimed at improving the well-being of people and contributes to ensuring the environmental balance in terms of sustainable development of the territories. Regions with agrarian specifics should develop a green growth strategy in order to ensure competitiveness, since it is green technologies that can become the driver of rural development, especially in terms of improving the quality of life of the population and using advanced agricultural production methods.

Problem Statement

Recently, the modern economy has not paid enough attention to ecology, the irrational use of natural resources, and the problem of meeting the endless growing needs of a person in conditions of limited resources. In their development rural territories faced problems of sustainable growth and development, since there is no reference to a decent level and quality of life of the rural population, the mechanism for self-developing territorial systems is not developed, the reproduction of natural resources is not ensured, the methods of agricultural production are not environmentally justified.

Sustainable rural development is possible due to the achievement of a number of effects from reducing the environmental burden on the soil, the use of organic farming technologies, and the greening of agricultural production. Many countries benefited from the development of crisis programs with an environmental component. G-20 countries allocate about 16% to green investments out of a $3.3 billion package of state measures to stimulate the economy. The environmental component of the anti-crisis package in the USA, Canada, Germany – 8-13%; France – 21%; China – 38%; South Korea – 81%; Russia – less than 1% (Kozhevina, 2015).

In Russia, the development of rural territories is designated as a priority in the State Program “Integrated Development of Rural Territories”, which identifies specific components that intersect with the directions of the green economy, thus promoting rural employment and the use of environmental technologies in agricultural production. The state program provides for financing the welfare of the territories and in 2020 allocated 3.8 billion rubles from the federal budget, which made it possible to implement almost 6 thousand projects in 70 regions of the country. In 2021, the Government of the Russian Federation additionally allocated 3.6 billion rubles, which will help to complete about 30 projects and improve the housing conditions of about 12 thousand Russians. Besides, more than 184 million rubles subsidies are implied for the recovery of costs of agricultural producers to attract qualified staff.

Despite the relevance of this field of study, the assessment of the quality of management of sustainable rural development is not studied enough. The sustainable development model aimes to study the best practices, current state of activity, substantiate the optimality of the development scenario, determine the qualitative and quantitative parameters necessary to ensure a competitive level of the regional economy on the planning horizon until 2030.

Research Questions

Purpose of the Study

The main direction of green economy development is ecological agriculture, which is focused on the use of green technologies, which, in turn, allows to significantly reduce employment issues, increase the level and quality of life of the rural population while preserving the natural environment.

The purpose of the study was to determine the role and practical use of green growth technologies in the sustainable development of rural areas. In accordance with the purpose of the study, a number of tasks were set:

– to identify the problems with the use of green technologies in agricultural production;

– to explain the definition of “green technologies” from the perspective of its impact on sustainable rural development;

– to determine the vector of the relationship between green technologies, crop yields and animal productivity;

– to identify the application directions of green growth technologies in the sustainable rural development system.

Research Methods

The theoretical basis of the study includes the general scientific dialectical and economic-statistical methods: ranking, correlation, structural analysis, statistical processing of the information array.

The methodological basis of the study included the works of foreign and domestic economists on sustainable development, as well as legislative and regulatory acts on the introduction of green technologies, resolutions and orders of the Government of Omsk Region on creating conditions for economic growth, maintaining social stability, innovative development of the region.

Findings

In order to determine the directions of green growth technologies in the sustainable development of rural areas, the authors classified all technologies as follows (Kozlova, Volkova, 2020):

– green technologies in the development of the resource-targeted approach contribute to the optimal level of resource use to achieve the target vector;

– traditional technologies provide medium-sized production, which currently does not promote competitiveness in strategic development;

– obsolete technologies do not meet the requirements of agricultural production and are not able to ensure the adequate quality of products.

As noted above, sustainable rural development can primarily be achieved with regard to resource efficiency. Sustainability of development is identified through the following types of the potential:

– natural-climatic potential (Pnc);

– socio-economic potential (Psc);

– organizational and management potential (Pom);

– scientific and technological progress potential (Pstp).

Life cycle technologies:

– green (kg);

– traditional (kt);

– obsolete (ko).

At present, most agricultural organizations consider basic traditional technologies that do not correspond to the green development vector. But since the organizations formed an algorithm for the sequence of technological processes and optimized the resource consumption, it is advisable to assign the kt=1 value to traditional technologies, deviations towards the environmental component are indicated through a unit fraction value of 0.5, respectively green and obsolete technology are assigned coefficients: kg=1.5 and ko=0.5.

The use of resource potential depending on the type of technology may be represented as follows:

Ip = k · Pnc + k · Psc + k · Pom + k · Pstp,

where Ip – evaluation of resource potential utilization, points;

k – type of technology from the life cycle perspective.

The weighting coefficient is proposed to be calculated taking into account the significance of the indicator in the volume from 100:

Pnc=30, Psc=15, Pom= 35, Pstp=20.

The end result of the technology is the expansion of the output. Considering that the output volume (V) can either decrease or increase depending on the use of the potential, the base coefficient Cb is determined, which shows how much the yield of agricultural products decreases or increases under the influence of these factors:

Cb min = Vmin / Vplan;

Cb max= Vmax / Vplan.

Wp = Cb (k · Pnc + k · Psc + k · Pom + k · Pstp),

where Wp – assessment of potential impact, points;

Cb – base coefficient.

With the interaction of green and traditional technologies, agricultural potential can be used more effectively, which affects the sustainability of rural development. Green technologies reduce the risk of environmental impact, ensure safety, resource efficiency, environmental friendliness, and contribute to the evolution from more primitive modes of production, accumulation and consumption to more economical, energy-efficient and socially adapted ones.

Conclusion

The studies carried revealed the following areas in the perspective of sustainable development of rural areas taking into account the introduction of green technologies:

– focus on sustainable development: introduction of green economy elements taking into account the interaction of economic, social, environmental and technological factors. The indicators of green growth and development should be reflected in strategic and operational development plans, contribute to socio-economic problems and be financially secured. These indicators take into account the close relationship of ecology with economic development, which determines better and healthier environment;

– transition to organic agriculture: soil renewal using artificial soil, compost production, its use as an organic, environmentally friendly fertilizer;

– introduction of recycling technology and cyclical production: modernization of production to obtain a double effect in the future during processing of raw materials, which will provide for economic efficiency, rational use of natural resources, ensure low-waste production;

– use of renewable energy sources: support and stimulation of the production of domestic renewable energy equipment;

– creating environmental thinking: stimulating support for sustainable development based on the principles of the green economy among all social groups of the society;

– formation and development of human resources potential: organization of a system of professional retraining and further training of staff in green and lean technologies;

– development of a conceptual system for sustainable rural development: determining the feasibility of implementing green growth technologies and assessing their effectiveness in the regional dimension;

– development of a regional employment policy: creating green jobs, increasing employment in the short-, medium- and long-term.

Thus, sustainable rural development is possible through the regional policy elements that promote green technologies in the production of environmentally friendly products, rational use of resources, and environmental care.

Acknowledgments [if any]

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