This paper argues that environmental protection, in its original and scientifically consistent sense, is not the conservation of isolated elements or states, but the preservation of the operability of natural systems. From this perspective, sustainability is not an independent normative goal, but a necessary consequence of maintaining the functioning of the environment.
Building on the scientific-historical development of Earth system thinking – from the principle of actualism through evolutionary-scale interpretations and systems-oriented approaches – the study emphasizes the primacy of processes, dynamics, and spatial organization over static descriptions. The paper adopts the operational concept of environment = landscape, in which natural, social, and economic processes interact within a common spatial framework, forming an integrated, functioning system. Within this framework, current sustainability indicator systems are critically examined. These systems predominantly rely on social and economic performance metrics, while largely neglecting the physical, chemical, and biological processes that constitute their natural foundations. A similar conceptual distortion is identified in the prevailing practice of water management, where water is treated primarily as a stock or resource, rather than as the outcome of a functioning landscape-scale hydrological system. The paper further argues that ecosystem services and water resources should be interpreted as consequences of landscape functioning, not as primary objects of protection. Protecting outcomes instead of underlying processes inevitably leads to systemic instability. In its concluding synthesis, the study highlights the Carpathian Basin as a paradigmatic case where environmental processes form an integrated, transboundary system shaped by basin-scale geology, hydrology, and landscape structure. Consequently, sustainability and environmental protection in this region can only be meaningfully addressed through coherent, landscape-based, and system-level approaches that transcend administrative boundaries.