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www.oecd.org/gov/ruraldevelopment
The issues
Predominantly rural regions account for about 75% of the land and almost a quarter of the population in OECD countries. With gains in agricultural productivity leading to a dramatic reduction in farm employment (less than 9% in OECD’s rural areas), rural regions across the OECD now depend on a wide range of economic engines for growth. Increasing globalisation, improved communications and reduced transportation costs are additional drivers of economic change in rural areas. Traditional policies to subsidise farming have not been able to harness the potential of these economic engines. Promoting rural development poses numerous policy and governance challenges because it requires co-ordination across sectors, across levels of government, and between public and private actors. Several countries are therefore considering a paradigm shift in their approaches to accommodate such important challenges. The most defining characteristics of this shift are a focus on places rather than sectors and an emphasis on investments rather than subsidies.
The OECD’s Working Party on Territorial Policy in Rural Areas discusses ways to develop a modern, rural development policy to account for these important economic changes and a new strategy for governance that these policy approaches require. OECD work on rural development has lead to a number of thematic publications, case studies and, from 2006, a series of national rural policy reviews to deepen international knowledge in this field. It has also lead to a yearly series of OECD Rural Development Conferences and workshops where policymakers from around the world gather to discuss rural policy.
Ongoing projects
Rurban (Rural-Urban) Partnerships
The OECD, in collaboration with the European Commission, is using a new analytical framework to assess urban-rural linkages and to help identify the governance forms that will enhance urban-rural interactions. The Rurban project aims to identify and assess formal and informal urban-rural partnerships and assess the role these partnerships can and should play in regional development and in bridging co-ordination gaps in policies for urban and rural dwellers.
Recent Rural Policy Reviews
Key messages from recent Rural Development Conferences
Events
Upcoming events
Title: Linking Renewable Energy to Rural Development Policy
When: 14-15 June 2012
Where: OECD Conference Centre, Paris, France
For more information visit the conference website: www.oecd.org/rural/Renewables
Title: Innovation and Modernising the Rural Economy
When: 3-5 October 2012
Where: SIBERIA International Business Exhibition Centre, Krasnoyarsk, Russia
For more information visit the conference website: www.oecd.org/rural/krasnoyarsk
Recent events
Title: Understanding Growth in Different Types of Regions
When: 26-27 March 2012
Where: The Civic Centre, Newcastle, United Kingdom
For more information visit the conference website: www.oecd.org/regional/PromotingGrowth
The complete list of past conferences on rural development can be found on our conferences on regional development web page.
Rural publications
Forthcoming publications:
- The Production of Renewable Energy as a Regional Development Policy for Rural Areas (2012)
For more information please contact Raffaele.Trapasso@oecd.org
- Follow up to the OECD Rural Policy Review of Italy: The functioning of rural policy at the local level in Italy (2012-13)
For more information please contact Betty-Ann.Bryce@oecd.org
The full list of publications on rural development can be found on publications webpages as well as forthcoming publications for the whole of the Regional Development Policy Division including those on rural development.
Contact us
For information and queries about OECD work on Rural Development Policy please contact Betty-Ann Bryce at OECD.RuralDevelopmentProgramme@oecd.org. Follow us on :
   
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