Le sfide delle aree rurali tra sostenibilità, spopolamento e transizione agroalimentare: politiche territoriali e strategie in casi di studio in Italia e Spagna

The demographic challenge, together with the climate issue and digital transition, is one of the most important priorities on the European political agenda in the medium and long term. In the face of growing migratory flows toward central and economically more dynamic areas, the progressive and unstoppable depopulation of others is observed, usually characterized by poor accessibility and availability of basic services, significant migration rates especially among the younger and more educated population, thereby exacerbating an already problematic situation whose evident coastal-urban and rural territorial imbalances are considered priorities by EU Cohesion and Rural Development Policy. In Italy and Spain, this awareness has become more operational in recent years with the implementation of targeted interventions: in the first case within the framework of the National Strategy for Inner Areas; in the second case through a series of interventions and strategies on a predominantly regional basis. Through the analysis of significant case studies in Italy and Spain, the methods and strategies adopted at the local scale in response to crucial issues affecting the primary sector will be analyzed, such as structural transformations (productive concentration); economic (agricultural and commercial intensification); agricultural (loss of biodiversity); social (abandonment of marginal lands, forced migrations) and cultural (loss of identity, abandonment of traditional techniques and settlements). The contribution aims to highlight the problems and potential of the innovations and strategies adopted in different territories, evaluating the impacts produced by regional public policies.