First Stakeholder Meeting in Galicia on 12th July!

Together with Fundación Juana de Vega, our lead partner, the Galician Agency for Rural Development (AGADER) organised their inaugural Down to Earth Stakeholder Meeting in Santiago de Compostella on 12th July 2023. The first Regional Stakeholder Meeting organised in Galicia, focused on presenting the Down to Earth partnership to local stakeholders and discussing topic of year 1: Demographic challenges to improve resilience against environmental risks in rural areas.

In this first meeting with the Galician stakeholders, the importance of active stakeholder involvement was stressed, notably to achieve improvements in the targeted policy instrument of the region, the Galician Act on the Recovery of Agrarian Land (2021). Similarly, participants were also informed that the project is an opportunity to identify good practices for the sustainable rural development of the region: experiences from other European regions will be used to import their best practices and, therefore, increase the Galician resistance and resilience within the project.

Participants' expectations were explored, and information from their side was collected for the elaboration of a SWOT matrix on the climatic, demographic, social and productive dimensions in the Galician countryside. Proposals were collected to address environmental risks and depopulation, and topics covered included sustainable development and the environment, rural revitalisation and depopulation, rural-urban relations and new ways of working, environmental education and communication, and the need for integrated governance.

In conclusion, the meeting highlighted the importance of cooperation between the project participants and served as a brainstorming session for the preparation of the Galician technical report for the theme addressed in this first year of Down to Earth.

As Down to Earth continues its mission to foster sustainable rural development, these stakeholder meetings serve as crucial forums for collaboration and exchange of ideas and ensure actual impact on rural communities.