Environmental priorities in guaranteeing the sustainable development of the global society

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Introduction

Modern world development is characterized by a significant load on ecosystems, which increases the socio-economic load on society given the need to achieve effective implementation of ratified international agreements, leveling risks and threats of a global nature. Most of the global threats are related to the intensification of asymmetric conflicts in the political, socio-economic, and environmental spheres. The events of the past twenty years increase the tension between individual states and regions, which is associated with manifestations of terrorism, migration processes, declining global economic development, the expansion of territories where various military conflicts occur, epidemics (COVID-19 pandemic). Of great concern are the areas where natural disasters occur, the deterioration of the ecological situation (desertification, large-scale and sudden floods, large-scale fires, tornadoes, forest area deterioration, deterioration of air quality, reduction of freshwater resources, deterioration of water quality).

Given the existing global threats, the main tasks of world society development have been determined: strengthening the international free trade regime, economic partnership; digitalization of the world economy, which is associated with the activities of multinational companies and corporations; development and implementation of innovative technologies and approaches in the fight against global environmental problems of humankind (global warming). The priorities were agreed upon at the G20 summit, which confirms the relevance and role of implementing global tasks by joint efforts in a responsible partnership. International obligations are due to the current need to preserve the world's ecosystems, reduce the negative impact of environmental threats in some parts of the world, reduce transboundary threats, preserve the sphere of human existence. Environmental threats are widespread and transboundary, no country in the world can guarantee the security of the territory, and environmental forecasts are critical to global society, confirming the negative natural phenomena, primarily due to significant global warming.

That is why the main directions of world development should be aimed at leveling possible risks and ensuring the security of global society. The topical issues are reducing global warming, ensuring energy security by increasing the share of alternative energy sources, reducing oil production, solid waste management, reducing the level of plastic pollution of the world's oceans, improving the management of forest and water resources, and preservation. The contradiction between the priorities of socio-economic development and the environmental objectives of the global world community remains topical. Such asymmetry increases the level of threats, complicates the implementation of the mechanism of concerted action and responsible partnership, encourages the escalation of conflicts between individual countries and regions of the world, encourages increased levels of social tension. The Global Sustainable Development Goals, initiated by the United Nations, demonstrate the priority of sustainable development and addressing global challenges through joint efforts, including through responsible partnership.
The Global Sustainable Development Goals contain a set of priorities in the development of the world community and determine the primary vector of socio-economic and environmental tasks. The significance of the issue lies in the effectiveness of the measures envisaged by the international community (from overcoming poverty "Global Goal 1" - to partnership for sustainable development "Global Goal 17"). Most of the priority areas for 2030 are related to the social and environmental spheres. According to the World Economic Forum, the primary funding was provided to countries with the highest level of the Global Competitiveness Index (according to the World Economic Forum) and the highest level of political, economic, and social globalization. These states include USA, Singapore, Hong Kong, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Great Britain, Japan, Finland. However, not all governments supported the initiative, and the adjustment of funding for the planned measures took place through the attraction of funds for the fight against the pandemic (COVID-19) during 2019-2020. The inability to finance any initiatives is characterized by the countries that occupy the last positions in global competitiveness, namely: Yemen, CAR, Nigeria, Ethiopia.

It should be noted that the obligations of the world community to its descendants are to preserve the possibility of human existence on the territory of all continents and island states. Critical issues in 2010 are catastrophic by 2021, proving the frequency and scale of harmful natural disasters over the past year (increasing drought on the African continent as a result - famine, environmental migration, social conflicts; floods in Italy, as a result - the destruction of industrial and social infrastructure, social load, increasing the level of social danger; fires in Australia, as a result - the reduction of infrastructure, flora, and fauna, increasing levels of social tension). That is why environmental priorities should be central to the development of the global world due to the need to ensure the sustainable development of various systems and their totality. Funding for activities should be with the active participation of international organizations and investment groups to achieve the typical result of the world community - environmental protection.

Globalization is the most important fundamental characteristic of the world system, an influential force that determines the pace of development of society. The globalization of economic development arises due to the complete interdependence of the components of the world economy, its unity and integrity, increasing the widespread deployment of production and circulation internationalization, the intensification of integration processes. Assessment of globalization processes is an essential prerequisite for global decision-making in the economic, social, political, environmental spheres. Assessment of adaptation to global change is carried out by the World Economic Forum, which identifies potential opportunities and relevant constraints in political, economic, and social globalization. In contrast, the priority influence on the development of the state in the global world has a social component that proves the importance and relevance of leveling asymmetric conflicts and environmental protection and the level of social tension due to the disregard of existing environmental threats by some world leaders who are leveling commitments under the Paris Agreement (an example of a waiver by the US Government and the PRC Government).

Given the growing asymmetry of the global world, there is a need to determine the main priorities of world development, taking into account the level and scope of tasks, international law, leveling threats, ensuring global security of the world community, implementing a mutually agreed mechanism on crucial issues in political, socio-economic and environmental spheres, expansion of the partnership, resolution of asymmetric conflicts, achievement of actions coherence, the corresponding level of responsibility of all participants of mutual relations.

Detailed research is needed to implement sustainable development and preservation of human existence in a responsible partnership, participation of the parties, and trust in the participants.

Our study aims to identify priority approaches to leveling threats and to ensure sustainable development of global society; implementing a mutually agreed mechanism on key environmental issues because of defined global goals of sustainable development; expanding responsible partnerships; resolving asymmetric conflicts in socio-economic and environmental spheres; achieving coherence of actions because of ratified international agreements, norms of international law; ensuring public tolerance and interests of all participants; reducing the level of cross-border threats. The main task of the study is to substantiate the essence and directions, environmental priorities in the development of global society, define the circle, and implement environmental initiatives in a responsible partnership.

Results

Ensuring global security and sustainable development of the world community has a significant number of limitations, determined by existing and possible conflicts of interest, including asymmetric ones. Such a situation encourages the need to develop mutually agreed actions to eliminate possible threats, reduce social tensions. The leveling of asymmetric conflicts in the environmental sphere is due to the priority of obtaining socio-economic rather than environmental results, as evidenced by the experience of recent years. Environmental issues have long been the last on the agenda of international agreements but have become a priority. The combination of all development parameters has a significant number of constraints due to insufficient funding for activities, especially in countries with a high level of financial dependence on the World Bank Group, as well as due to significant financial load in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic during 2019-2020, expected during 2021.

It has been agreed that the sustainability of the world community involves the implementation of measures aimed at overcoming poverty and hunger, health and well-being, quality of education, and gender equality (Global Sustainable Development Goals 3-5); the implementation of measures to ensure adequate sanitation and access to clean water and clean energy, economic growth and development of industry and infrastructure (Global Sustainable Development Goals 6-9); reducing inequality and ensuring sustainable development of cities and communities, responsible consumption and production (Global Sustainable Development Goals 10-12); implementation of approaches on climate change mitigation, conservation of marine resources, protection of terrestrial ecosystems (Global Sustainable Development Goals 13-15); peace and justice and partnership for sustainable development (Global Sustainable Development Goals 16-17). The implementation of the set goals has been expanded and extended until 2030, which determines the range of unresolved issues and the complexity of conflicts that arise at different levels of government (from local to global or from global to local). Improving cooperation and organizing a mechanism of responsible partnership is an essential priority for achieving the effectiveness of world development. A responsible partnership of participants involves the implementation of commitments to a certain extent and promptly, the appropriate level of trust and orientation on the expected result - sustainable development of the world community and ensuring human existence, limiting the number of environmental migrants, access to vital resources (quantitatively and qualitatively ) - air, water, earth.

The ratified Agreements and Conventions, including the range of commitments under the Paris Agreement Paryzka, U, aim to neutralize threats and reduce areas of environmental instability, forecasting possible climate change. However, the emergence of most international conflicts is due to national interests and related cross-border threats, which need funding and coordination in international relations. The influence of asymmetric conflicts is growing, which complicates the implementation of mechanisms for ensuring the environmental security of the world states, public security of the global world. Asymmetric conflicts are due to the different potential of the parties involved in an unavoidable conflict of interest, primarily considering their financial capabilities. The issue is particularly relevant in the context of settling cross-border environmental obligations. It is much more challenging to resolve the issue by states with a high level of financial dependence and a low level of investment attractiveness (African countries, partly - Asian and island countries).

Adaptation to changes in the globalization environment implies that each participant will have the opportunity to implement the agreed measures to achieve sustainable development in a combination of socio-economic and environmental priorities. The possibility of implementing measures and fulfilling obligations requires attracting additional funding with the participation of international financial organizations (IBRD, IDA), including joint investment of environmental projects with the participation of governments of the world, which have the opportunity to finance the arrangements. In order to support the states, the World Bank Group mobilizes the resources of the public and private sectors of the economy, uniting the efforts of foundations and public organizations. The World Bank Group, in cooperation, is implementing measures and approaches to expand investment sources for specific development goals of the world (priority goals for individual areas of the world and support projects aimed at combating climate change in the world. The World Bank Group uses partnership as a mechanism for cooperation, realizing set goals, including the Global Sustainable Development Goals (from overcoming poverty to partnership for sustainable development).

There are more than 63,000 partnership-funded projects in the world. Principles determine terms of project financing, procedures, features of projects or initiatives, conditions of their implementationMutual coherence of actions allows receiving the most favorable combination of sources of financing and actual result of projects implementation, including cross-border character. Partnership in the implementation of priority development initiatives of individual countries or regions of the world encourages the achievement of practical cooperation, trust, and responsibility of the parties given the commitments made. Achieving effectiveness in implementing specific development initiatives and programs depends on the timeliness and completeness of commitments. The partnership itself involves the cooperation of international organizations with alliances, groups, organizations within specific initiatives, ideas, programs, activities. In the environmental sphere, there is cooperation with international organizations that implement various types of environmental activities, including through the movements of public activists (the movement - "Fridays For Future").

Current issues in the environmental sphere, creating the preconditions for achieving sustainable development of the world economy, cooperation within the norms of international law, implementing legislation to joint projects and initiatives to preserve the sphere of human existence, determine the primary vector of cooperation at the international level. Financial support for programs, initiatives, including environmental ones, rely on the capabilities of individual countries and international organizations, such as the World Bank Group. Responsible partnerships and the participants' level of trust allow attracting the necessary financial resources to implement the planned programs aimed at environmental protection and technological renewal, economic consumption. Responsible partnership implies the obligation to fulfill all obligations, the responsibility of the parties, monitoring the implementation of agreements reached, legality, including the norms of international law, openness, and trust of the parties, tolerance, ethical and moral principles. Such principles encourage the neutralization of asymmetric conflicts and provide conditions for the sustainable development of the world community because of the growing environmental load and critical (catastrophic) forecasts of environmentalists. Preservation of territories for humanity's existence may become a topical issue for the world community in 10-15 years. The issue is financial constraints; the priority remains on social aspects - preserving territories, preventing military conflicts, and environmental migration.

The preservation of the sphere of human existence is closely connected with the responsibility of the parties in fulfilling their obligations, coordination of actions, the balance of interests at the national and global levels, interests between business, society, and the preservation of ecosystems. The set of existing global environmental problems of humanity is not limited to the garbage and the high level of nature-intensive industries, supplemented by human-made hazards and climate challenges.

Humankind's environmental problems are in crisis, as adverse trends in climate change will not protect any part of the world's landmass from the negative manifestations of nature. The crisis of the situation proves the interest in the international community, as evidenced by the activities of the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2019-2021, the United Nations. The World Economic Forum (WEF) acts as an international public-private partnership organization, and environmental issues are becoming more relevant than economic or socio-political ones, as evidenced by the experience of recent years of cooperation of all its participants. Given the existing environmental threats, the European Commission has made it a top priority by 2050 to make Europe a carbon-neutral continent. In 2020, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, presented the "Green Deal" program at the forum as a guideline for business development without harming the environment (World Economic Forum).

Conservation, enhancement, and sustainable use of ecosystem biodiversity have become critical environmental policy priorities of most EU countries. One of the indicators of success in this direction is the ratio of protected territories to the total area. The nature reserve network is an essential component for the ecologically balanced development of any country in the world. The primary indicators of the assessment are the area of protected territories, their categories, established following the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classification, and the public interest and opportunities for their expansion and preservation. The reduction in protected territories has reached a critical level; according to the United Nations Environment Programme - UNEP, only 12 percent of the land surface is protected.

Environmental activist Greta Thunberg noted that the environmental situation in the world is dangerous, but most leaders and countries in the world do not define specific measures; most of them are general. Greta Thunberg, at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2021 said: "Goals equal to defeat" (World Economic Forum). Today's eco-transformation is aimed at the need for practical implementation of the European Climate Law, which reduces greenhouse gases by 55 percent by 2030. The main practical measures to neutralize environmental threats are the transition to renewable energy sources, emissions trading (which was provided by the Kyoto Protocol), and the transition to a closed-loop economy. Such European intentions were confirmed by the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2021.
Most disputes in the environmental sphere arise due to the conflict of economic and environmental interests; world leaders determine the need for economic growth by macroeconomic stability of the world. However, the uncontrollability of human impact on ecosystems led to the loss of livelihoods in some areas, continents. The situation was aggravated by the pandemic, as evidenced by the declining trends in the world economy during 2020-2021.

The authors stipulate the need to adhere to the main identified priorities of global environmental policy (commitments) given increasing global climate change and negative trends, increasing the impact of global climate threats (flooding, desertification, temperature waves, biodiversity loss, ecosystem destruction, changing in natural habitats of biological species). The authors formed the main environmental priorities and constraints, environmental and climate trends, and global Sustainable Development Goals in Table 1. Given the current environmental priorities and relevant constraints, is it time to leave environmental issues in the categories of "insignificant", "non-priority", "unimportant". Everyone feels the significance of the issue due to the growing trends of negative environmental manifestations over the past 20 years. The effectiveness of environmental measures and the introduction of approaches to the defined global goals of sustainable development can be ensured only in terms of international public-private partnerships. Such cooperation will bring the interests between business and the socio-ecological need to preserve the sphere of human existence and neutralize climate migration threats. It will also encourage the ability to ensure an appropriate balance of interests between the global world's economic needs and environmental capabilities. The influence of public initiatives in the environmental sphere is significant, proving the experience and public interest in their activities. Public participation remains a controversial issue in terms of effectiveness but significant, given society's attention to environmental issues and potential consequences – partnership for sustainable development.

Table 1. Environmental priorities, constraints, and trends of the global world*.

Conclusions

Ecological dimensions of global adaptation of the world should contain a quantitative impact on the environment and a set of ethical and moral indicators for measuring society's attitude to nature, its elements. Global processes have accelerated the spread of negative manifestations of environmental threats, which led to the strengthening of society's role in preserving the world, the leveling of environmental threats. Public initiatives, participation in the implementation of environmental policy of public organizations allows to establish clear boundaries of environmental protection, systematize and adjust the international law principles in the environmental field to reduce the level of asymmetry. Existing trends in the deepening of social threats, including environmental ones, call for introducing systematic measures because of environmental priorities, challenges, and threats. In terms of the existing dangers, the priorities of the world community development should be closely connected with the implementation of environmental measures given the regulated UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, ratified by the Paris Agreement. Responsibility for the fulfillment of ratified obligations provides for the mandatory implementation of measures aimed at preserving the environment, within a specific time frame, in various areas of activity. The practical implementation of the global challenges of humanity must meet the needs of preserving the existence of the future generation based on a standard policy, without spreading asymmetric conflicts, including between economic, social, and environmental priorities, and implementing specific rules of international law, taking into account existing cross-border threats, invasions limiting the negative manifestations in the world community.

The complexity of resolving and reconciling issues is growing due to the scale of global threats (from the global financial crisis to environmental disasters, natural disasters, transboundary threats), which intensifies asymmetric conflicts. Implementation of a mutually agreed mechanism on critical issues in the political, socio-economic, and environmental spheres with the participation of international organizations, expanding partnerships, achieving coherence of actions because of international agreements, norms of international law, allows attracting additional funding for development programs and priority initiatives in the environmental sphere. The experience of recent years shows that the participation of the World Bank Group in the implementation of development programs is growing. International organizations provide an opportunity to cooperate based on partnership, to attract additional resources in solving pressing issues at the state and interstate levels.

Environmental policy should be aimed at the practical implementation of approaches to effective environmental management, integration of environmental policy in all areas of the economy, air purification programs, waste and resource management, water quality, water treatment, ecosystem protection, eco-network formation, industrial pollution control territories, protection of territories from human-made threats, cross-border threats, prevention of human-made hazards, implementation of measures to stop global warming, invasive processes. A wide range of tasks requires appropriate funding, participation, and responsibility of the parties at all levels of government (from local to global). The responsible partnership and the level of trust in the participants allow attracting the necessary financial resources to implement the planned programs, which are aimed at environmental protection and technological renewal, economic consumption. Responsible partnership implies the obligation to fulfill all obligations, the responsibility of the parties, monitoring the implementation of agreements reached, legality, including in the light of international law, openness and trust of the parties, tolerance, ethical and moral principles. The development priorities of the world community should be based on the possibilities of implementing development programs in various fields of activity, taking into account environmental obligations. Each participant must have a high level of responsibility for implementing the planned activities; only under such conditions will humanity preserve the sphere of its existence and limit the flows of environmental migrants.

According to the authors' vision, environmental priorities will form the primary vector of cooperation in the global environment, and guaranteeing sustainable development involves preserving and protecting the environment, reducing the level of adverse climatic events and transboundary hazards in a responsible partnership. Responsible partnership implies the obligation to fulfill all obligations, the responsibility of the parties, monitoring the implementation of agreements reached, legality, including in the light of international law, openness and trust of the parties, tolerance, ethical and moral principles.

The practical significance of an effective partnership in the environmental sphere is based on implementing an effective environmental policy of the world, which should be focused on protection within the framework of international law, international agreements, their implementation, and levels of responsibility. The priority of solving environmental issues is the coherence of actions to introduce effective mechanisms (from institutional and financial investment to environmental-economic). The development of spheres and branches of the national economy should be focused on ensuring environmental and economic efficiency and effective functioning of cross-border cooperation, effective partnership.

The effectiveness of the partnership is proven by the environmental policies of Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, countries that have focused their development on the principles of sustainability and, due to the systematic implementation of environmental approaches, have achieved a corresponding impact at the state level. The significance of the issue is negative (crisis) climate change, flooding, and climate migration for these countries that need to be addressed immediately, but the locality of its solution will not yield results due to the global nature of its manifestations. The global nature of the issue must become the responsibility of every member of the world community, the basis of the climate policy of states and regions of the world. Sustainable development is possible only if the level of responsibility of all participants in the relationship increases and a balance of interests is provided, which will allow to find and implement compromise management solutions between business and the environment.

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