The contribution of Europe’s Rural Areas to the 2018 Year of Cultural Heritage ensuring sustainability and urban/rural cohesion (own-initiative opinion) - Related Opinions

The EESC, through its consultation and platform can offer an expert, objective view that identifies key priorities for future rural policy, thereby considering in particular the needs of the vulnerable regions. Rural-proofing needs to be reinvigorated alongside specific rural policies while transgenerational and smart community measures need to be mainstreamed.

This opinion considers the root causes, the negative impact on rural areas and highlights best initiatives to re-energise communities through the RDP and other support measures.

Growing global demand for food and the financial investors' interest in the agricultural sector have led to large-scale acquisitions, also known as "land grabbing", of farming land all over the world. .

The aim of the opinion is to take stock of the land grabbing phenomenon in the EU, and to discuss its extent and various causes. The document should explain the implications of this process for the environment, jobs, the local population, rural life and food security. It focuses on large-scale acquisitions of agricultural land (including the associated bodies of water), which should be seen as a natural resource.

As 2014 has been designated as the International Year of Family Farming (IYFF) by the UN, the opinion will also contribute to the debate in this context.