Pastoralism is coping with many challenges, including its low economic viability, excessive bureaucracy, and low generational renewal, leading to its progressive disappearance across Europe. To economically compensate for the environmental services of pastoralism, including preventing forest fires through grazing, two complementary pathways were extensively discussed: on one hand, the need for...

How to combat depopulation and make rural areas vibrant again? This was the question addressed during the ENRD Workshop on May 21, 2019. The event explored the role of Rural Development Programmes and other EU policies in maintaining a high quality of life in these regions, where demographic trends are...

By supporting local traditions to build better livelihoods and empower communities, FAO and its partners are working toward a world free of poverty and hunger.  

A new webpage dedicated to mountain areas, islands and sparsely populated areas has been launched by the European Commission, find there all news and studies related to our territories

According to the OECD, territorial relationships have deeply changed in recent decades. Improvements in communication technology, increasing movements of peoples and goods, and changes in land use have reshaped the relationships between urban and rural areas. This is also true for mountain areas, where large metropoles like Milano have recently...

Le vératre blanc est très répandu sur les alpages. Il y est classé comme « plante problématique », due à sa toxicité. Il se développe dans des pâturages sous-exploités et fait donc partie des plantes « supplantant volontiers la flore voisine ». La vidéo présente les differentes méthodes pour le...

Max Herger et Cornel Werder montrent à l'exemple de l'Alp Ruosalp dans le canton d'Uri, comment réguler les rumex des Alpes. La vidéo traite des sujets suivants :• Emplacement et biologie• Adaptation de la gestion• Régulation mécanique• Stratégie d’assainissement• Ensemencement• Conclusions

In order to revive a remote mountainous area with harsh conditions and stimulate economic activity, a LEADER funded project facilitated the creation of a new touristic offer. This new offer was based on artwork inspired by the surrounding landscape, accompanied with an integrated package of activities, such as the organisation...

A questionnaire survey was conducted to understand how a mountain ecosystem in northern Bhutan is perceived by local yak herders to be changing under climate warming. One hundred elderly herders were selected using a 2-stage sampling. The questionnaire sought information on herders' awareness and perceptions of weather patterns, climate changes,...

Millions of small-scale farmers and foresters will be able to better protect their lands from the impacts of climate change, and improve their livelihoods thanks to renewed global efforts announced last two weeks ago on the side-lines of World Forest Week (COFO24). The Forest and Farm Facility initiative - a partnership...

Faced with a complex and uncertain future, the coming years are even more so for mountains that contend with rising temperatures, dwindling natural resources, and rapidly increasing outmigration. Therefore, the need to focus on affordable and replicable solutions that can affect significant change is more important than ever. The solutions...

  The XI European Mountain Convention will be organized on 25-27 September 2018 in Vatra Dornei, Romania, by Euromontana in collaboration with the Agency for Mountain Areas (AZM, Romania). It will focus on the tangible and intangible cultural heritage in mountain areas and on how this strategic resource, inherited from the past,...

En la edición 2018 el Anuario de la Agricultura Familiar vuelve a acoger relevantes reflexiones de más de 40 autores y autoras representativos de distintas sensibilidades y ámbitos de estudio. También aglutina más de 300 datos estadísticos de la agricultura, la ganadería, la distribución y el consumo de alimentos en...

PEGASUS is a European research project aiming to develop innovative approaches and new ways of thinking about the way farmland and forests are managed in order to stimulate a long-lasting improvement in the provision of public goods and ecosystem services from agricultural and forest land in the EU. The PEGASUS project is already...

Breeding livestock, producing crops and household goods, fetching water and firewood, housework, cooking for family, looking after children, caring for the elderly and sick members of the family – this is the short list of rural women’s obligations in Georgia. However, the contribution of women to agricultural production remains invisible and...

Large-scale, industrial agriculture is often held up as the solution for feeding the world’s growing population. But small farms—with about 25 acres or less—along with family-run operations like Masumoto’s produce over 70 percent of the world’s food. Raising awareness of the contribution of these farmers inspired the We Feed the World...

Many people living in mountain regions in lowand middle-income countries are vulnerable to food and nutrition insecurity, which contributes to poor nutritional status. Food and nutrition security require stability of access to affordable, safe, diverse, and nutritious foods. In mountainous areas, affordability and access to diverse foods are challenged by...

Produced in the remote mountainous region of Tusheti, Tushuri guda takes its name from the sheepskin sack in which the raw-milk cheese is traditionally ripened. The skin is turned inside out, so the wool is in direct contact with the ripening cheese. Archaeological evidence suggests that sheep cheese made in a similar...

This report monitors progress towards the targets of ending both hunger (SDG Target 2.1) and all forms of malnutrition (SDG Target 2.2), and provides an analysis of the underlying causes and drivers of observed trends. While the prevalence of undernourishment is at the forefront of monitoring hunger, the prevalence of...

SIMRA’s fourth brochure collecting examples of social innovation in marginalised rural areas has just been published. This collection of brochures aims at concretely illustrating social innovation through the presentation of local on-going initiatives throughout Europe and the Mediterranean basin, taking turns addressing different marginalized rural areas. This brochure addresses mountain...