Described as a ‘road map for delivering well-being in rural regions’ this OECD policy framework is designed to help national governments support rural development. It highlights the contribution that rural areas make to OECD economies as well as the current challenges.
Rural areas make a vital contribution to the well-being and prosperity of OECD countries. They produce our food and raw materials, amenities and ecosystem services, and are sources of productivity growth and technological innovation.
However, rural areas have also borne much of the cost of structural transformations in recent decades. The re-orientation of OECD economies toward services has largely benefited cities.
Rural industries have been exposed to increased competition from lower wage countries, declines in trade, and disruptive technologies. Population ageing has affected the quality and accessibility of public services. These trends have torn the social fabric of many rural communities (Page 1).
Rural 3.0 calls for rural policy to change in three key ways:
- From just economic objectives to include social and environmental ones
- From a simple rural /urban divide to one that recognises the connections between them
- From government as the only stakeholder to include the private sector and civil society
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