European Union and national policies need to work in a more integrated way if the broader concerns of rural people in terms of jobs, incomes, employment, quality of life, health and education are to be addressed, a leading Scottish academic will tell European counterparts later this week.
Professor John Bryden, Chair of Human Geography at the University of Aberdeen, will deliver the keynote speech at the European Conference on Rural Development - Planting Seeds for Rural Futures - in Salzburg on Thursday (13 November at 11am, local time).
The 1000-strong audience will include Dr Franz Fischler, who has responsibility for Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries within the European Commission.
Professor Bryden believes the EU should be modest about its achievements in relation to rural development and take a fresh look at where it should go. His address is particularly timely, as rural policy will need to evolve to meet new challenges within an enlarged European Union and as preparation is underway for Community policy for rural areas for post 2006. Approximately 50billion Euros are invested by the EU in rural development annually.
In his paper, Professor Bryden highlights that farming on its own will not save rural places, but that the development of rural places can save farming and farm families, as well as others who live, and seek livelihood, in rural places. For this, he argues, we need a Territorial Rural Development Policy, quite different from the present CAP.
"There remains a good deal to be done to secure 'healthy' or 'sustainable' rural communities in the EU-25," said Professor Bryden. "We have made some progress, but significant challenges remain. Although many of these challenges are significantly greater in the new member States, the situation is far from solved in the EU-15."
However, the future promises many and diverse opportunities, according to Professor Bryden, who is also Joint Director of the University's Arkleton Institute for Rural Development Research: "As we enter the exciting and challenging period of this major enlargement, we must assess how far we have gone, as well as what we know, and what we do not.
"These opportunities, and the capacity to grasp them, have been demonstrated by rural people in many areas of Europe. We need to learn from these successes, and transfer experience between rural areas in the wider EU-25. Rural areas have learned - and will learn - best from their peers."
He also identifies seven key characteristics that are vital for a healthy rural community:
1. First and foremost, they are at least maintaining their population and within it a viable age structure. Usually this also means that they have a positive rate of net in-migration.
2. Healthy rural communities have diversified their economic base beyond the primary sector, maintaining or even increasing employment rates in the face of inevitable declines in primary sector jobs. These conditions would also tend to mean that poverty and unemployment rates are no worse than those in cities and larger towns.
3. The physical and mental health of the rural population is as good as it is elsewhere. Public health depends on socio-economic determinants, especially poverty and major risk factors including high blood pressure and blood cholesterol, obesity, smoking and excessive alcohol, and exercise.
4. Healthy rural communities value their history, culture and environment and have a pride in their identity, and use these both to enhance the quality of life and develop new economic activities and improve the rewards to existing economic activities. The education system supports these values.
5. Healthy rural communities have widespread property ownership, clear titles, and relatively high rates of locally financed and initiated new small enterprise start-ups. People have access to collateral, hence loans at reasonable interest rates. The transactions costs of doing business are low. There are open and active networks with links across NGOs (Non-Governmental Organisations) business and public sector, and good links with the outside world
6. Public agencies work together towards common goals and with an agreed value basis, and do not fight against each other. These goals and values are set through local democratic and participatory process: ie they are 'bottom-up'. There is a lively and democratic local government, with reasonable fiscal and decision making autonomy.
7. Lastly, and most important of all, healthy rural communities are doing their own development, and not having it done to them by others.
(Please refer to attached draft speech for Professor Bryden's discussion on the current status of the EU, in relation to these characteristics.)
Background:
The Salzburg conference will be a follow-up to the Cork Conference on Rural Development (1996) which launched a wide debate on rural development policy. That process culminated in the Agenda 2000 reforms, which saw rural development policy established as the second pillar of the Common Agricultural Policy.
One Thousand Delegates from all 25 EU Countries and beyond will reflect on a wide range of issues at the Conference, including the experience of the current generation of rural development programmes running from 2000-2006, and draw lessons and conclusions for the next generation of programmes from 2007-2013.
The conference will bring together the major stakeholders in rural development within the EU. Invitees will include representatives of the EU-15 Member States and Acceding Countries, of other European Institutions, national and regional programme management authorities, LEADER groups, a wide range of sectoral associations and NGOs, international organisations, academics and experts, all of whom are crucial to the success of this policy.
Professor Bryden will leave for Salzburg tomorrow morning (Wednesday). He will be available for interview from 2pm today (Tuesday) and is available on: (01224) 272352 or 273901. If he is unavailable on that number, please try his mobile on 07785 242 869. However, please note that broadcasts are embargoed until 10am on Thursday, 13 November.