Managing Environmental and Energy Transition in Rural Areas

9 September 2019 | OECD

SEMINAR 4

OECD-European Commission Seminar Series: Managing Environmental and Energy Transitions for Regions and Cities

SEMINAR SERIES: MANAGING ENVIRONMENTAL AND ENERGY TRANSITIONS FOR CITIES AND REGIONS

SEMINAR 4: Managing environmental and energy transitions in rural areas

09 September 2019; 9:30 - 17:00 OECD Headquarters, Chateau, Room E, 2 rue André Pascal, 75016 Paris

What’s the issue?

Rural regions will play a crucial role in the transition to a climate-neutral - economy because of their specialisation in resource-based industries. Climate change is already affecting these economic sectors (agriculture, forestry, fisheries, mining and energy), for example, due to dislocation and costs associated with the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. Rural economies are less resilient than urban economies in responding to structural adjustment pressures because their economies are less diverse with lower levels of human capital. Socio-economic impacts of trade, policy and technological induced adjustments can generate discontent and blockages to building domestic and international consensus about climate change policies. Challenges of rural depopulation affect the level of service provision and the development of local economies. Rural regions will also play a key role in the fight against climate change through carbon sinks and the provision of eco-system services. However, this value is often not monetised and forces rural communities to make trade-offs between environmental protection and development.

About the seminar series This is the fourth of a five-part seminar series in the context of an EC-OECD project “Managing environmental and energy transitions for cities and regions”. The other high-level workshops address “Managing environmental transitions in cities”, “Managing the transition to a climate-neutral-economy”, “Managing the transition to a circular economy”, and “Financing, scale-up and deployment”. The outcome of the seminars will feed into the work of the European Commission Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO) and the OECD and be summarised in a final OECD publication to inform regional policy makers about current frontier thinking and corresponding policy approaches.

Contact

Sandra Hannig

Co-ordinator of the seminar series Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities

Sandra.HANNIG@oecd.org

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9:00-9:30 Registration

9:30-10:00 Setting the scene: Challenges and opportunities

Rudiger Ahrend, Head of Economic Analysis, Statistics and Multi-level Governance, Section, Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities, OECD

Peter Berkowitz, Head of Unit, Smart and Sustainable Growth, Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy, European Commission

10:00-12:30 The New Frontier: What do we know about the transition to the climate-neutral and circular economy in rural areas?

Moderator: Alain Dupeyras, Head of the Regional Development and Tourism Division, Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities, OECD

Paper presentation:

Prof. Greg Halseth, Professor, Geography Program at the University of Northern British Columbia, Canada

Facilitated panel discussion on theoretical approaches and links with practical experience:

Prof. Bettina Bock, Professor for Population Decline and Quality of Life. Faculty of Spatial Sciences, Netherlands

Prof. Erik Mathijs, Division of Bioeconomics, KU Leuven, Belgium

Francesca Poggi, Researcher at CICS.NOVA - Interdisciplinary Centre of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon, Portugal

Martin Scheele, Senior Advisor on Agriculture and Rural Development

Open discussion with all seminar participants.

12:30-14:00 Lunch, OECD Restaurant des Nations

14:00-16:30 From theory to practice: How to prepare regions for the challenges and opportunities associated with sustainability transitions in rural areas?

Moderator: Myriam Boveda, Team Leader Sustainable Growth, DG REGIO, European Commission

Paper presentation:

Prof. Martin Phillips, Professor of Human Geography at the University of Leicester, UK

Facilitated panel discussion on country and regional examples in practice:

Prof Allan Buckwell, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for European Environmental Policy, UK

Catherine Saget, Chief Work Income Equity Research Department, International Labour Office

Gérard Peltré, RED Rural Europe

Catherine Moreddu, Senior Economist, Agriculture and Resource Productivity Division, Trade and Agriculture Directorate (TAD), OECD

Open discussion with all seminar participants.

16:30-17:00 Seminar takeaways and the way forward

Rudiger Ahrend, Head of Economic Analysis, Statistics and Multi-level Governance Section, Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities, OECD

Peter Berkowitz, Head of Unit, Smart and Sustainable Growth, Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy, European Commission

Follow us on Twitter @OECD_local

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