**1. Introduction**

The rural environment is a complex system in which the differences in development are evident both at the subnational and international level. The difficulties related to methodological analysis are due to such rural diversity and the partial lack of comparable indicators which lead to the development of objectives and indicators that respond to both national and international needs. Harmonization should be easier in view of the common goal, but policies and strategies do not always provide the required coherence.

The presence of programmatic documents such as the Agenda 2030 reveals a path that can lead to good practices and reliable results even if they do not offer universal or global certainties. Politics at various levels play a decisive role and not always these take the best decisions regarding the rural environment. Thus, there is a diversity of situations, and the application of models is not necessarily a solution because of a wide spectrum of particular conditions at regional and local levels that must be taken into account. However, some mechanisms must be further developed to comply the international sustainable development perspectives to regional and local scales including rural areas.

Agenda 2030 relies on 17 sustainable development goals and 169 targets supported by the United Nations as a global effort to manage current challenges related to poverty, climate, environmental pollution, geographical inequalities, prosperity, peace, and justice [1]. This key strategic document continues the previous Eight Millennium Development Goals (started in 2000) committed to combat poverty, hunger, disease, and illiteracy, to promote gender equality and to ensure environmental sustainability until 2015 [2].

The Paris Agreement aims to undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate change and adapt to its effects among developed and developing countries and to build future clean and climate-resilient communities [3]. The Paris Agreement and the Agenda 2030 are the most ambitious international initiatives so far which address major concerns related to future economic development perspectives combined with societal and environmental sustainability issues. Such actions must take into consideration the huge rural-urban gaps in terms of socioeconomic conditions and reveal the exposure of rural areas to current societal and environmental threats. Despite the rural-urban migration process, rural areas comprise vast geographical regions where a significant population still lives and faces emerging threats associated with climate change, poverty, and lack of critical infrastructure, particularly across developing and transition countries. Reducing geographical and socioeconomic inequalities in terms of basic needs must be a priority at international level. On the other hand, rural lands feed all basic needs of urban areas' (raw materials, energy sources, food supply, water, etc.) additional labor force while preserving the natural habitats of endemic species (flora and fauna) and

**8**

*Sustainability Assessment at the 21st Century*

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landscapes (e.g., protected areas). Rural settlements also contribute to the cultural and patrimonial heritage of each region and country. Therefore, sustainable rural development is a complex issue (environment-economic-social nexus) which must be further addressed with the same attention by academics, international bodies, national and local authorities, professionals, and members of civil society as for urban areas.
