Urbanization and the Crisis of Natural Resources in the Context of Sustainable Development

By 2050, it is estimated that more than two-thirds of the world’s population will live in urban areas, with an annual increase in urban population of over 70 million people. Currently, it is known that more than 60% of natural resources are consumed by the urban environment, while producing more than 70% of global emissions. Living space has increased, to the detriment of the natural environment. Also, the resource consumption has increased. Urbanization will continue to lead in increasing of demand for resources. In these circumstances, maintaining environmental conditions in life-friendly parameters is becoming increasingly difficult. Thus, reducing the gap between urban and rural areas, even if it is included in the 2030 Agenda as a major goal to be achieved in this decade, will be difficult to achieve, in a context in which crises have become increasingly urban. In Romania, the living space has increased in the last three decades, while increasing the consumption of resources needed for heating because over 50% of households continue to depend on firewood. Many studies have been carried out on the firewood consumption, but the results are different and do not correspond to NIS statistics. In such a context, the current study aimed at conducting several econometric analyses, in order to confirm/reject the official statistics and demonstrate the general impact on the environment and on sustainable development. The results indicate that the actual statistics on firewood consumption could be different from those taken by NIS, case being also suggested by NFI (II) results. This could be explained by the informal forest economy.