However, some mechanisms must be further developed to comply the international sustainable development perspectives to regional and local scales including rural areas. Agenda relies on 17 sustainable development goals and 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 committed to combat poverty, hunger, disease, and illiteracy, to promote gender equality and to ensure environmental sustainability until [ 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 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. 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.
Rural communities are facing several challenges in the context of climate change, land degradation, deforestation, biodiversity loss, and fragmentation of natural habitats, poverty, and geographical isolation. The rural population is more prone to extreme poverty, famine, social exclusion, and environmental injustice, particularly in developing countries from Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Rural communities depend on local geographical conditions climate, natural resources, landscape, and geographical barriers, socioeconomic conditions, demographic features to develop agricultural, industrial, or tourism activities as economic development pathways.
A traditional economy based on subsistence agriculture is still widespread across rural regions of the globe. This type of economy is volatile to natural hazards extreme weather, flash floods, landslides, erosion, drought and poor agricultural productivity which translates into famine, extreme poverty, land abandonment, and massive migration. Land use management is a key factor for future rural development perspectives and to find the optimal equilibrium between natural habitats, agricultural lands, and built-up areas.
Figure 1 reveals the emerging societal and environmental threats, sectoral approaches, and synergic effects that must be addressed at subnational levels by each country via regional and local authorities towards rural areas.
Challenges of rural communities under agenda framework. Rural areas must cope with social, demographic, economic, governance, and environmental challenges. As an example, extensive cattle ranches and emerging oil palm cultivation threaten biodiversity conservation and food security across tropical rural regions while increasing social inequalities and conflicts [ 4 ]. On the other hand, agricultural land abandonment associated with traditional farming, low productivity, poor infrastructure, aging population, massive migration, land ownership change, political instability has created several socioeconomic and ecological dysfunctionalities in southeastern Europe [ 5 ].
Poor agricultural productivity in the Global South is related to the low use of improved seed, use of inappropriate fertilizer, inadequate irrigation, and lack of incentives for farmers in the absence of remunerative markets [ 6 ]. Climate changes, land fragmentation, natural resource depletion, political instability, corruption, and conflict areas will further threaten rural areas of developing countries.
In this context, rural resilience and circular economy are key strategic directions to further develop rural economies and reduce socioeconomic inequalities and environmental injustice coupled with access to proper education.
This new policy needs to be adopted by each EU country including rural areas of Eastern Europe. In countries like Romania, with over rural municipalities communes and other villages included in urban administrative areas, this transition from linear to circular economy could lead to new rural business opportunities based on responsible production and consumption of natural resources organic farming, agritourism, local niche products, upcycling or creative reuse, etc.
International cooperation is needed to successfully achieve the ambitious SDGs until at the global level. The development perspectives show some critical objectives which cannot be achieved without improvement of rural conditions across each continent. Poverty and poor infrastructure are the main drivers for underdevelopment and environmental degradation.
Rural settlements must have access to basic public utilities to ensure a decent quality of life in areas without significant geographical restrictions. Any sudden and profound changes which impacted on the farm sector could have severe consequences in terms of social and political stability in economically developing countries.
Agriculture also plays an important part in rural development, especially due to land use, in countries where the sector is of less economic significance. The main potential contributions of farming to rural development are in terms of supporting employment, ancillary businesses, and environmental services. In peripheral regions, farming may be necessary to support the economic and social infrastructure. Rural development policies should exploit the contribution of farming, both in terms of improving on-farm activities and supporting ancillary services, to secure sustainable development for rural areas.
In the context of agricultural reform, WTO rules should contain sufficient flexibility to allow countries to promote rural development, especially to preserve social and political stability. In rural areas throughout the world, agriculture represents the predominant land use and a major component of the viability of rural areas.
Farming and related activities make up the basic fabric of rural life, contributing significantly to the overall state of rural regions in terms of employment and business opportunities, infrastructure and quality of the environment. The degree to which farming represents a share of the rural economy, and hence its relative importance as a sector, determines its potential economic contribution to rural development.
In some countries, farming may be the primary economic activity of a region and support the vast majority of the population in employment. In such regions, it is clear that overall social and political stability is inextricably linked with the condition of the agriculture sector. However, in most economically developed countries, farming accounts for a relatively small part of a diversified rural economy, and in addition the significance of agriculture in terms of the proportion of national wealth and employment is, in most regions, in decline.
This does not lessen the potential role of farming in rural development in those countries, but the contribution of alternative economic activities, which may offer durable prospects for employment and economic progress, should also be included. Since the contribution of farming to rural development in different countries varies to a great extent, policy responses need to be correspondingly distinguished, with the aim of maximising benefits to society.
Rural development is understood primarily in the economic sense of the process of assuring a progressive improvement in economic security of people in rural areas. Rural areas are usually defined in terms of maximum population density, with figures varying from to inhabitants per square kilometre, depending on the structure of society.
The achievement of the Millennium Development Goals is at the centre of sustainable development. Sustainable rural development is vital to the economic, social and environmental viability of nations.
It is essential for poverty eradication since global poverty is overwhelmingly rural. The manifestation of poverty goes beyond the urban-rural divide, it has subregional and regional contexts.
It is therefore critical, and there is great value to be gained, by coordinating rural development initiatives that contribute to sustainable livelihoods through efforts at the global, regional, national and local levels, as appropriate. Strategies to deal with rural development should take into consideration the remoteness and potentials in rural areas and provide targeted differentiated approaches.
A healthy and dynamic agricultural sector is an important foundation of rural development, generating strong linkages to other economic sectors. In addition, the Ministry also has schemes for capacity development of rural functionaries; Information, Education and Communication; and Monitoring and Evaluation. Budget outlay of Rs. An additional amount of Rs. Photo Gallery Video Gallery Events.
Volume-1 Volume-2 Volume Press Release. Office Order Contact Number. About the Ministry. The Ministry of Rural Development consists of two Departments, viz. Broadly, the aims of the Ministry of Rural Development are: Providing livelihood opportunities to those in need including women and other vulnerable sections with focus on Below Poverty Line BPL households.
Providing for the enhancement of livelihood security of households in rural areas by providing at least days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to every household demanding it. Provision of all weather rural connectivity to unconnected rural habitations and upgradation of existing roads to provide market access.
Providing basic housing and homestead to BPL household in rural areas.
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