Abstract
Sustainable development has become the main priority of contemporary global society, and it is increasingly perceived not only in the context of environmental protection, but also as an entirety of processes in ecosystems, the society and different countries. Ecosystem stability and human well-being in an ecosystem, in the community, the society, and the country are greatly influenced by political, economic, social and cultural processes in the countryside, because rural territories make up a bigger part of the territories of contemporary countries. The article analyses Lithuanian rural development reviewing the damage done by Russian (Soviet) occupation to the Lithuanian countryside and assessing its development in the context of rural development and contemporary sustainable development in Western European countries and the world. It is concluded that the agricultural model in Lithuania as well as in all other countries that have freed themselves from the Soviet Union is based on Socialist (communist) doctrine and is an extreme contrast to the European Model of Agriculture. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.erem.66.4.5409
Highlights
Rural and forest ecosystems take up a bigger part of dry land territories of all countries of the world
In both cases the European Model of Agriculture based on family work is eliminated, eliminating the middle stratum of the society, the castes of poor hired workers and rich owners appear in the society, and outcomes of instability in the society, the ecosystem and the country related to such social differentiation emerge
Having analysed the implementation of the principles of sustainable development in Lithuanian rural development it is possible to state that it is not successful: 1. The on-going demographic processes have determined that unemployment in the countryside forced most of young rural inhabitants to leave for cities or to emigrate, whereas almost only retired people are left in rural areas, who cannot farm anymore due to their old age
Summary
Sustainable development has become the main priority of contemporary global society, and it is increasingly perceived in the context of environmental protection, and as an entirety of processes in ecosystems, the society and different countries. Ecosystem stability and human well-being in an ecosystem, in the community, the society, and the country are greatly influenced by political, economic, social and cultural processes in the countryside, because rural territories make up a bigger part of the territories of contemporary countries. The article analyses Lithuanian rural development reviewing the damage done by Russian (Soviet) occupation to the Lithuanian countryside and assessing its development in the context of rural development and contemporary sustainable development in Western European countries and the world. It is concluded that the agricultural model in Lithuania as well as in all other countries that have freed themselves from the Soviet Union is based on Socialist (communist) doctrine and is an extreme contrast to the European Model of Agriculture
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