Research to promote a European debate on policies needed to support sustainable rural development

• Project Dates: 2001 - 2003
• Project Leader: Philip Lowe
• Staff: Philip Lowe and Neil Ward
• Sponsors: WWF, Countryside Agency and IEEP

This pan-European research project on the rural development instruments of the EU was undertaken to promote a European debate on policies needed to support sustainable rural development, and to inform and influence the mid-term review of the Rural Development Regulation (RDR), further reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and other policies relevant to sustainable rural development. The research aimed to explore implementation of rural development programmes supported under the EU's Rural Development Regulation (RDR) 1257/1999 and the SAPARD pre-accession instrument (1268/1999). The study examined the extent to which these programmes are promoting integrated and sustainable rural development, the protection and enhancement of biodiversity and the coherence of rural development policies with environmental legislation. 

The research built upon a scoping project “The Nature of Rural Development: Towards a sustainable integrated rural policy in Europe” which compared the meaning of rural development and the institutional structures for its implementation in ten European countries.