**3. Rural population access to basic public utilities**

Poverty and poor infrastructure are the main drivers for underdevelopment and environmental degradation. Rural settlements must have access to basic public utilities to ensure a decent quality of life in areas without significant geographical restrictions.

At the global level, there are huge rural-urban gaps regarding population access to critical amenities such as drinking water, sanitation, electricity, and waste management services, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Rapid urbanization in developing countries feeds rural-urban migration where poor people have crowed in slum areas without access to urban main public services

threatening public health and local environment. Uncontrolled urban expansion towards surrounding rural lands leads to such informal settlements. There are 1.9 billion rural people without access to formal waste management services, and the coverage rate is under 50 among 105 countries [8]. This critical situation translates into million tons of household waste generated and uncollected each year, which leaks into the natural environment via wild dumps, waste dumping in water bodies, or open burning practices. Freshwater ecosystems are often affected by the uncontrolled disposal of waste which further contaminates the downstream water bodies through heavy rains and floods and finally reaches the marine environment. Wildlife is heavily exposed to plastic pollution where rural communities can contribute directly through fishing activities or indirectly as land-based sources via unsound waste management activities.

A study breaks down the rural infrastructure in China in three major categories: facilities for living and production (e.g., drinking water, irrigation, electricity, roads, wastewater treatment, and waste management), development infrastructure (education and healthcare), and environmental infrastructure (clean energy, green housing, and the environmental protection system) [9].

However, **Figure 2** reveals a complex structure of public utilities as essential services for each rural municipality in the world. The lack or poor coverage of public utilities across rural regions leads to environmental degradation via air-water-soil nexus. These are essential services to maintain a decent standard of public health and to protect the natural environment against daily disturbances induced by human needs and economic activities.

The public utilities involve a multi-sectoral approach and a systemic perspective in adopting best current practices which will provide an easier transition to a diverse range of SDGs as shown in **Figure 2**. Thus, the improvement of such public services via sanitation facilities, water, and waste management, clean energy, road networks, and digital technologies will provide the base to build a sustainable development community.


**13**

subsistence agriculture.

entrepreneurs including women empowerment.

*Sustainable Rural Development under Agenda 2030 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90161*

the other hand, to mitigate the rural migration phenomenon.

natural resources and farming activities.

social programs.

In nowadays, rural areas are still neglected by public services as in the case of former Soviet countries [10]. Furthermore, Central Asia is facing a growing urban-rural divide as a result of a capital city-centric growth model, economic nationalism, and water resource conflicts [11]. Additionally, rural depopulation of Russia makes more difficult to revitalize such regions, despite some recent efforts to improve population access to basic utilities [12]. Poor socioeconomic conditions in rural areas of new EU members stimulate the external migration (abroad) towards older EU countries, as in the case of Romania which facing is labor shortage. Distant rural settlements from urban areas are now facing such labor shortages combined with the aging population process. These peripheral regions lack critical amenities and have poor opportunities for economic development which still depend on traditional farming. Public investments in infrastructure and public utilities are crucial to reconnect such pockets of poverty areas to cities and emerging markets and, on

Improvement of rural mobility by public transport network is essential for access to education (high schools, universities), healthcare services, justice, and

In developed countries, there is a counter-urbanization process in the proximity of larger cities by movement of people to surrounding rural areas, avoiding noise and air pollution of core cities. There is an intense rural land reclamation for housing, transport, commercial, or industrial infrastructures around "peri-urban" areas including tourism and recreational activities. Therefore, the monopoly of farming activities is replaced by manufacturing, industrial, and various services close to larger urban areas where metropolitan regions emerge. However, this situation is in contrast with distant rural communities with primary focus in exploitation of

Despite the economic development in the latter years, China must manage several environmental challenges in rural areas such as [9] increasing waste generation rate with insufficient treatment capacity, crude and backward wastewater facilities, regional disparities in terms of sanitation services, and safe drinking-water sources' issues. Similar challenges are facing Indonesia, where rural areas are poorly endowed with infrastructures like roads, sanitation, clean water, and energy [13]: Biogas is a perfect solution for decentralized off-grid electricity situations in rural

areas where an abundance of biowaste is available as feedstock; therefore, biogas could be used for cooking, heating, or gas lighting [14]. Anaerobic digestion is a proper solution to divert organic waste leaking into the natural environment towards an energy source (biogas) of fertilizer (digestate) for agricultural land. Animal feed and home composting practices are additional options to handle the organic waste produced at household level supporting organic farming and animal husbandry. Source separated of dry recyclables (metals, plastics, paper/cardboard, wood) would stimulate recycling and recovery practices via local small- and medium-sized

enterprises (SMEs) enacting the first steps towards a rural recycling society.

Rural communities must evaluate the exposure of its territory to natural hazards (floods, heavy rains, heatwaves, hail occurrence, drought, desertification, wildfire) and to take necessary measures to combat such threats. Poor population and peripheral rural areas are most vulnerable to climate change effects due to their reliance on

Rural population access to mobile phones and the Internet could improve agricultural productivity and better land use management practices based on updated knowledge. Also, digital technologies will help rural councils to reduce bureaucracy and increase transparency in community decisions. Better virtual connectivity to high-speed Internet services will provide new collaborative opportunities for rural

**Figure 2.** *Public utilities as critical infrastructure for sustainable rural development.*

### *Sustainable Rural Development under Agenda 2030 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90161*

*Sustainability Assessment at the 21st Century*

unsound waste management activities.

human needs and economic activities.

opment community.

housing, and the environmental protection system) [9].

*Public utilities as critical infrastructure for sustainable rural development.*

threatening public health and local environment. Uncontrolled urban expansion towards surrounding rural lands leads to such informal settlements. There are 1.9 billion rural people without access to formal waste management services, and the coverage rate is under 50 among 105 countries [8]. This critical situation translates into million tons of household waste generated and uncollected each year, which leaks into the natural environment via wild dumps, waste dumping in water bodies, or open burning practices. Freshwater ecosystems are often affected by the uncontrolled disposal of waste which further contaminates the downstream water bodies through heavy rains and floods and finally reaches the marine environment. Wildlife is heavily exposed to plastic pollution where rural communities can contribute directly through fishing activities or indirectly as land-based sources via

A study breaks down the rural infrastructure in China in three major categories:

facilities for living and production (e.g., drinking water, irrigation, electricity, roads, wastewater treatment, and waste management), development infrastructure (education and healthcare), and environmental infrastructure (clean energy, green

However, **Figure 2** reveals a complex structure of public utilities as essential services for each rural municipality in the world. The lack or poor coverage of public utilities across rural regions leads to environmental degradation via air-water-soil nexus. These are essential services to maintain a decent standard of public health and to protect the natural environment against daily disturbances induced by

The public utilities involve a multi-sectoral approach and a systemic perspective in adopting best current practices which will provide an easier transition to a diverse range of SDGs as shown in **Figure 2**. Thus, the improvement of such public services via sanitation facilities, water, and waste management, clean energy, road networks, and digital technologies will provide the base to build a sustainable devel-

**12**

**Figure 2.**

In nowadays, rural areas are still neglected by public services as in the case of former Soviet countries [10]. Furthermore, Central Asia is facing a growing urban-rural divide as a result of a capital city-centric growth model, economic nationalism, and water resource conflicts [11]. Additionally, rural depopulation of Russia makes more difficult to revitalize such regions, despite some recent efforts to improve population access to basic utilities [12]. Poor socioeconomic conditions in rural areas of new EU members stimulate the external migration (abroad) towards older EU countries, as in the case of Romania which facing is labor shortage. Distant rural settlements from urban areas are now facing such labor shortages combined with the aging population process. These peripheral regions lack critical amenities and have poor opportunities for economic development which still depend on traditional farming. Public investments in infrastructure and public utilities are crucial to reconnect such pockets of poverty areas to cities and emerging markets and, on the other hand, to mitigate the rural migration phenomenon.

Improvement of rural mobility by public transport network is essential for access to education (high schools, universities), healthcare services, justice, and social programs.

In developed countries, there is a counter-urbanization process in the proximity of larger cities by movement of people to surrounding rural areas, avoiding noise and air pollution of core cities. There is an intense rural land reclamation for housing, transport, commercial, or industrial infrastructures around "peri-urban" areas including tourism and recreational activities. Therefore, the monopoly of farming activities is replaced by manufacturing, industrial, and various services close to larger urban areas where metropolitan regions emerge. However, this situation is in contrast with distant rural communities with primary focus in exploitation of natural resources and farming activities.

Despite the economic development in the latter years, China must manage several environmental challenges in rural areas such as [9] increasing waste generation rate with insufficient treatment capacity, crude and backward wastewater facilities, regional disparities in terms of sanitation services, and safe drinking-water sources' issues. Similar challenges are facing Indonesia, where rural areas are poorly endowed with infrastructures like roads, sanitation, clean water, and energy [13]:

Biogas is a perfect solution for decentralized off-grid electricity situations in rural areas where an abundance of biowaste is available as feedstock; therefore, biogas could be used for cooking, heating, or gas lighting [14]. Anaerobic digestion is a proper solution to divert organic waste leaking into the natural environment towards an energy source (biogas) of fertilizer (digestate) for agricultural land. Animal feed and home composting practices are additional options to handle the organic waste produced at household level supporting organic farming and animal husbandry. Source separated of dry recyclables (metals, plastics, paper/cardboard, wood) would stimulate recycling and recovery practices via local small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) enacting the first steps towards a rural recycling society.

Rural communities must evaluate the exposure of its territory to natural hazards (floods, heavy rains, heatwaves, hail occurrence, drought, desertification, wildfire) and to take necessary measures to combat such threats. Poor population and peripheral rural areas are most vulnerable to climate change effects due to their reliance on subsistence agriculture.

Rural population access to mobile phones and the Internet could improve agricultural productivity and better land use management practices based on updated knowledge. Also, digital technologies will help rural councils to reduce bureaucracy and increase transparency in community decisions. Better virtual connectivity to high-speed Internet services will provide new collaborative opportunities for rural entrepreneurs including women empowerment.
