G100 Rural Proofing. Ruralizing laws, a question of justice

By project Coop4RURALGov

Published on 06 September 2024

Spain

About this good practice

Legislation is usually made with urban centers in mind, simply because more people live there, and these types of laws, programs and projects tend to be harmful when applied in rural areas, especially in sparsely populated areas.That is why there is a need to ruralize the laws, that is, to have a Rural Proofing mechanism.
According to the European Union, it is absolutely necessary to evaluate the impact that any law passed by the legislative bodies of the States, especially those in which the problem of depopulation is more pressing, may have on the rural environment.
50 men and 50 women with a relationship with rural areas and with the most diverse backgrounds (agriculture, livestock, fishing and forestry, representatives of civil society organizations, public administrations, business world and law, universities, social and health sector, schools, etc.) were grouped into 14 work areas such as Urban planning and housing; Education and culture; Mobility; Agricultural and forestry economy; Social innovation; Governance; Technology… with the objective of lay the groundwork for the creation of a mechanism for the review of legislation from a rural perspective from a bottom up perspective, based on the real problems of each of the territories and with a cross-cutting vision carrying out an agile exercise of consultation with the rural territories in an orderly manner.

Resources needed

The work started during Covid 19, so most of the work was carried out online.
The project had 5 coordinators from different organizations and experiences.
Each group were led by 1 “enthusiast”.
Main conclusions were presented in a face-to-face session.
15.000 €

Evidence of success

Two publications are available on its website: Conclusions for the implementation of Rural Proofing in Spain and 71 proposals to achieve fairer legislation for the rural environment, that served as a basis for the ideation of this Interreg Europe Coop4RURALGov project.
The group continues working sharing information, participating in different meetings on Rural Proofing.
The project has appeared in the document Lessons from OECD countries and potential application to health, OECD 2024.

Potential for learning or transfer

The project brought together 50 men and 50 women from different parts of rural Spain and from the most diverse backgrounds, knowledge, professional careers, backgrounds and life experiences, to work together grouped in 14 thematic areas that had previously been identified as areas of interest for rural areas, both in Spain and in Europe.
The project contributed to bringing the rural reality closer to future legislators, from the bottom up and based on the real problems of each of the territories and with a cross-cutting vision. In other words, the project carried out an agile exercise of consultation with rural territories in an orderly manner. One of the main conclusions of the project was that we cannot speak of a single rurality, but of several, and to treat this complexity as a whole would be a mistake.