This book sheds light on the effects of the financial and economic crisis in a diverse set of countries of Southern and Mediterranean Europe. Drawing on case studies from Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Turkey, this book presents a broad and integrative perspective on the impact of the crisis in different rural territories, discussing the similarities and dissimilarities of those impacts together with the resilience strategies adopted in each context. The impacts of the crisis in rural restructuring processes are also taken in consideration in this volume. Based on diverse theoretical and methodological approaches, the book discusses the challenges presented by the new socioeconomic contexts emerging from the crisis, as well as the resilience strategies adopted in rural territories by old and new actors. The book compiles nine empirical chapters dealing with the different cases and a final chapter devoted to the discussion of the shared and dissimilar processes of rural change. This book is a useful and valuable resource for scholars and post-graduate students from different disciplines, such as rural sociology, geography, anthropology, regional planning and agricultural studies.

This volume sets out to explore the dialectic relating agriculture, crisis and conflict, and attempts to expand the knowledge on these interactions. Part 1 of the volume (chapters 1-6) discusses thematic issues and methodological approaches to understanding the intersection of agriculture, crisis and conflict. Part 2 (chapters 7-20) provides case studies that take a detailed approach to understanding agricultural contexts facing crisis and conflict, or the role played by agriculture within crisis and conflict. Studies are selected from areas that might be expected to feature in such a volume (the Middle East and North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and Latin America) as well as less obvious regions where conflict within agriculture refers not to widespread violence or wars but rather latent or simmering crisis (Central Asia and Europe). Crises stemming from politically-driven violence, natural disasters and climate change are covered, as well as competition over resources.

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. This book takes an in-depth look at Louisiana as a state which is ahead of the curve in terms of extreme weather events, both in frequency and magnitude, and in its responses to these challenges including recovery and enhancement of resiliency. Louisiana faced a major tropical catastrophe in the 21st century, and experiences the fastest rising sea level. Weather specialists, including those concentrating on sea level rise acknowledge that what the state of Louisiana experiences is likely to happen to many more, and not necessarily restricted to coastal states. This book asks and attempts to answer what Louisiana public officials, scientists/engineers, and those from outside of the state who have been called in to help, have done to achieve resilient recovery. How well have these efforts fared to achieve their goals? What might these efforts offer as lessons for those states that will be likely to experience enhanced extreme weather? Can the challenges of inequality be truly addressed in recovery and resilience? How can the study of the Louisiana response as a case be blended with findings from later disasters such as New York/New Jersey (Hurricane Sandy) and more recent ones to improve understanding as well as best adaptation applications – federal, state and local?

Rural Well-being: Geography of Opportunities presents the latest iteration on this policy framework, reflecting several important changes in rural development in recent years. Fully taking into account the variety of situations characterising rural regions, the new policy framework leverages improved data and analysis while broadening the scope from economic focus to encompass the environmental and social dimensions of well-being.

Rural regions in Colombia have untapped potential to boost wealth and well-being in the country. Despite remarkable economic growth over the last two decades, Colombia’s development policy needs to increase its focus on rurality, as regional inequalities remain high by OECD standards and structural challenges still prevent greater development in rural places.

Sweden’s northern region, Upper Norrland, is one of the most important mining regions in Europe and has the potential to become a global leader in environmentally sustainable mining. This study identifies how Västerbotten and Norrbotten can build on their competitive advantages and address current and future challenges to support a resilient future through sustainable mining.

This book consists of papers that present the findings of research done by the SMERU Research Institute in Jakarta, Indonesia. Most describe the effects on the poor of the Indonesian economic crisis of 1997-98 and the response of the Indonesian government in the form of a Social Safety Net consisting of poverty mitigation programs. With the gradual recovery of the economy after 2000, the Indonesian government began reducing subsidies for fuel products and has channelled budgetary savings into a new series of targeted social protection and poverty alleviation undertakings that include unconditional cash transfers. The effectiveness of Indonesia's poverty alleviation programs has, however, been reduced by the difficulty of targeting beneficiaries accurately because of a lack of reliable, up-to-date poverty figures. In many instances unsuitable targeting methodology has been compounded by bad governance at the local level, while the introduction of regional autonomy, accompanied by the decentralization of authority to the district level, has formed a further complicating factor.

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the constraints facing the development of rural non-farm enterprises in Indonesia. Recent years have seen a substantial effort by the Indonesian government to improve the investment climate. To date, much of this effort has focused on the constraints faced by businesses at the national level. However, if Indonesia is to be successful in creating jobs and reducing poverty across the archipelago, this will require improving the investment climate for the 15.7 million micro and small enterprises that employ more than half of all the non-farm workers in the country. This book brings together leading Indonesian and international academics to consider seven key constraints that RNFEs face: labour regulations and practices; infrastructure; competition and marketing; knowledge transfer and technology; access to credit and financial services; local taxation and user charges; and insecurity. In each case the authors draw on the Indonesian Rural Investment Climate Survey, a unique dataset of more than 2,500 RNFEs, to identify the size and nature of the constraints, the way in which they impact upon enterprise growth and the implications for policy. In addition, a key chapter estimates the strength of the linkage between agriculture and non-agricultural activities in rural areas, showing that agricultural revitalization is an essential complement to the development of the non-farm economy. "Understanding the rural investment climate in both slow- and fast-growing economies has taken on new urgency in the wake of the world food crisis. The rural non-farm economy often provides half or more of the income of farm families and is especially important for food-deficit rural households hard-hit by rising food prices. The Indonesian Rural Investment Climate Assessment is the "gold standard" for how to achieve this understanding. It is a delight to see it published and available to a wide audience." - C. Peter Timmer, Visiting Professor, Program on Food Security and Environment, Stanford University; Non-Resident Fellow, Center for Global Development

For decades, the livestock debate has focused on how to increase production in a sustainable manner. However, the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has shifted the emphasis from fostering sustainable production per se, to enhancing the contribution of the sector to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This publication examines the sector’s interaction with each of these Goals, as well as the potential synergies, trade-offs, and complex interlinkages. This global report is intended to serve as a reference framework that Member States and stakeholders can use as they engage in the transformation process of the livestock sector towards sustainability. It calls for an integrated approach towards livestock sustainable development, highlights the effective adaptation of the SDGs into specific and targeted national policy action as the major challenge ahead, and flags the steps in the implementation road map.

The economic crisis of 2008-9 heralded the most severe economic downturn in the history of the European Union. Yet not all regions experienced economic decline and rates of recovery have varied greatly. This has raised new questions about what factors influence the economic resilience of regions. This book presents the results of an Applied Research Project conducted within the ESPON 2013 Programme and provides a detailed analysis of what made some European regions more resilient to the crisis than others.