Agriculture and rural development: quality agriculture and sustainable rural development at the heart of AER member Regions' interests

Rural areas cover more than 80% of the territory of the European Union. There is a widespread, however faulty conviction that they are responsible only for food supply. In reality, they consist of many different environments: while the food production still remain the main sector of local population's activity, cultural heritage and industrial production sites, often planted outside urban centres, generate a high development potential for rural land as well. Moreover, rural areas play a crucial role in keeping a global ecosystem in balance. It is proved that a number of present environmental problems such as climate change, air pollution, soil erosion and low water quality are due to the very intensive way in which we use our lands.

Some current EU policies developments, including the CAP reform are likely to promote more sustainable development of rural areas. The general tendency is to move towards a system concentrated less on market and more on development and environmental issues. The new CAP should contribute to the preservation of biodiversity of European rural areas, to the improvement of natural conditions and to the reduction of European dependence on food and energy. European regions are strongly concerned by the current reassessment of CAP and the future of RD policy. This page will provide you with some of the most relevant information on actions undertaken by the EU in the field of agriculture and rural development, as well as on the AER positions and conferences devoted to these issues.

Sempfehlungen der VRE Konferenz: 'Die Zukunft der ländlichen Entwicklungspolitik und ländlicher Regionen'

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Conclusions of Kriti conference (GR), 15 - 16 October 2006

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Final conclusions of the Conference on the promotion of competitive regions, 24 November 2005, Devon (UK)

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Declaration on the future of rural areas adopted in Bari, 13 - 15 May 2004

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AER Interim Report on the revision of CAP, adopted by Committee C in Pecs and amended by the General Assembly, Naples (2002)

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AER Rural Development Working Group

• Next meeting of the working group: Linz, Upper-Austria, 28 October 2008 - 16:00

The working documents of this meeting can be found here. Please log-in if you wish to access these papers.