Sustainability Of Rural Communities Research Articles

Towards a circular economy and just transition to net-zero in rural Scotland: Resident perspectives on policy and practice

The circular economy and just transition are key dimensions of the sustainability challenges of the 21st century. These concepts are ambiguous and meanings differ among actors, sectors and contexts. This paper examines the circular economy and a just transition to net-zero in the Scottish context, where both are prominent in national policy discourses and central to the work of Zero Waste Scotland. It is based on qualitative research, co-designed with Zero Waste Scotland, to explore how rural residents in Scotland understand the circular economy and just transition, in their everyday lives and communities. This is an under-researched area and our findings add new knowledge useful for implementing sustainability policies in a rural context. Focus groups were carried out in three rural areas, engaging with a range of residents in a deliberative setting. The findings support the need for a more collaborative, whole systems approach that moves beyond siloed thinking and which focuses on local capacity and knowledge building for transitions to more sustainable rural communities.

Reimagining Agriculture :The Rise of Precision Farming

Precision farming is similar to applying extremely intelligent crop-growing methods. Precision farming approaches a field piece by piece rather than handling the field as a whole. It calculates precisely what each region requires to yield the finest crops possible using sophisticated technology and data. This implies that farmers may make very informed choices about things like the amount of water, fertiliser, or pesticides to apply in certain areas. Why does this matter? Given the growing population, farming needs to become increasingly efficient. We're also running out of clean water and productive farmland. All of it is made possible by precision farming, which increases yield while reducing waste. Additionally, it aids farmers in overcoming by providing them with current information on what's going on in their fields, they may avoid issues like bugs or bad weather. Precision farming benefits farmers by increasing food production and preserving the environment. It maintains our air, water, and soil cleaner by utilising less chemicals and only what is actually necessary. It also contributes to the health of natural regions and wildlife. Precision farming reduces agriculture's ecological imprint, which benefits the environment in addition to its agronomic advantages. Precision farming helps reduce soil erosion, water pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions associated with conventional farming practices by minimising the use of agrochemicals and optimising resource utilisation. Furthermore, precision farming contributes to the long-term sustainability of rural communities and agricultural landscapes by fostering biodiversity and ecosystem health. To sum up, precision farming offers a comprehensive solution to the many problems of feeding an expanding population and protecting the environment. It is a paradigm change in agricultural production. Precision farming has the potential to make agriculture a more resilient, effective, and sustainable industry by utilising technology, data, and innovation. The sections of this paper that follow will explore the literature on precision farming, looking at important developments, patterns, and directions for this rapidly evolving industry.

Can Sustainability and Biodiversity Conservation Save Native Goat Breeds? The Situation in Campania Region (Southern Italy) between History and Regional Policy Interventions

The Campania region has a genetic heritage, both vegetal and animal, of great scientific interest, but many genetic resources risk extinction or abandonment. Thus, from a sustainability perspective, their conservation is very important and represents an imperative to allow future generations to satisfy their needs just as we are doing today. The aims of the present paper were to describe the current consistency and importance of goat farming in Italy and in the Campania region and to study its trend from 1861 to understand whether the policies for the sector implemented over time have been sufficient to conserve goat biodiversity. To these ends, the latest available data of the national livestock register of the Italian Ministry of Health, those of the different available Italian agricultural censuses, and historical–cultural documents published over time for the livestock sector were acquired and consulted to describe the goat sector and reconstruct its temporal trend. The results showed that in Italy there are just over 1,000,000 goats (the same consistency as 60 years ago), 50% of which are distributed in the southern regions, and 50,616 farms with goats, 43% of which are extensive. In this contest, the Campania region represents approximately 5% of the national goat population. The continuous decrease in the size of the national and regional goat heritage since the 1920s is the result of the agricultural policy instruments implemented for the livestock sector over time, which have effectively excluded the goat sector. Two small increases in the number of caprines were registered: the first in 1980s, when the Italian scientific community realized that the native goat genetic types, its milk and its organoleptic and dietary qualities could constitute a wealth of endogenous resources that needed to be valorized; the second, in the last decade, due to the actions of sustainability and biodiversity conservation implemented at the national and regional level. At the same time, today the goat sector continues to have a marginal role in the national and regional agricultural economy, and the survival of native goat farming is essentially ensured by sustainable rural communities conceived as the custodians of biodiversity.

Beekeeping as a Tool for Sustainable Rural Development

The symbiotic relationship between bees and the environment underscores the potential of apiculture as a sustainable practice. Bees, as pollinators, play a crucial role in ecosystem health and biodiversity conservation. Their pollination services are essential for the reproduction of numerous plant species, including many crops that constitute the backbone of agricultural economies. Beekeeping can diversify income sources, reducing dependence on single crops and enhancing household resilience to economic shocks. The aim of this paper is to explore the multifaceted role of apiculture as a tool for sustainable rural development. In conclusion, apiculture holds immense promise as a tool for sustainable rural development, offering a pathway towards economic prosperity, social inclusion, and environmental stewardship. By harnessing the synergies between bees, biodiversity, and community development, beekeeping has the potential to transform rural landscapes and livelihoods. However, realizing this potential requires concerted efforts to address the challenges and barriers that hinder the widespread adoption of beekeeping practices. Through collaborative action and integrated approaches, it can unlock the transformative power of apiculture and build resilient, vibrant, and sustainable rural communities for generations to come.

Defining the Canadian rural general surgeon.

A total of 18%-30% of Canadians live in a rural area and are served by 8% of the country's general surgeons. The demographic characteristics of Canada's population and its geography greatly affect the health outcomes and needs of the population living in rural areas, and rural general surgeons hold a unique role in meeting the surgical needs of these communities. Rural general surgery is a distinct area of practice that is not well understood. We aimed to define the Canadian rural general surgeon to inform rural health human resource planning. A scoping review of the literature was undertaken of Ovid, MEDLINE, and Embase using the terms "rural," "general surgery," and "workforce." We limited our review to articles from North America and Australia. The search yielded 425 titles, and 110 articles underwent full-text review. A definition of rural general surgery was not identified in the Canadian literature. Rurality was defined by population cut-offs or combining community size and proximity to larger centres. The literature highlighted the unique challenges and broad scope of rural general surgical practice. Rural general surgeons in Canada can be defined as specialists who work in a small community with limited metropolitan influence. They apply core general surgery skills and skills from other specialties to serve the unique needs of their community. Surgical training programs and health systems planning must recognize and support the unique skill set required of rural general surgeons and the critical role they play in the health and sustainability of rural communities.

Entrepreneurial community development and the everyday realities of existing enterprises

ABSTRACT Entrepreneurship and innovation are key inputs to the revitalization and sustainability of rural communities and economies. While compelling, entrepreneurial community development models heavily favor new venture start-up activities and largely overlook the needs and potential of existing enterprises. Drawing on principles of everyday life sociology and organizational culture, we explored how a sample of Southeastern Arizona ranchers confront persistent challenges by way of their daily routines, practices, and interactions. Data were collected through extensive field work involving nearly 100 hours of direct observation and semi-structured interviews with 14 participants across four ranches. The findings show the innovative characteristics of the ranchers’ everyday practices and routines and illustrate how everyday ingenuity among the ranchers drives a problem-driven mindset and immediate, short-term action. We use the insights generated to conceptualize a temporal dynamic that if integrated with entrepreneurial community development models may better foster and support innovation within existing enterprises.

Addressing health challenges in rural Japan: a thematic analysis of social isolation and community solutions

BackgroundThe establishment of sustainable connections between medical professionals and rural citizens is pivotal for effective community healthcare. Our study focuses on understanding and resolving health problems arising from social isolation, a critical barrier to achieving this goal, especially in the context of the coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) pandemic's impact on community dynamics respecting social cognitive theory. This study investigates the link between social isolation and rural community healthcare. We aim to develop methods that improve interaction and collaboration between healthcare providers and rural communities, ultimately enhancing the region's healthcare system.MethodsEmploying thematic analysis based on social cognitive theory, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 57 community workers in rural communities. This qualitative approach enabled us to delve into the nuances of social isolation and its multifaceted impact on health and community well-being.ResultsOur analysis revealed four key themes: the impact of aging on social dynamics, shifts in community relationships, unique aspects of rural community networking, and the role of these networks in driving community health. Notably, we identified specific challenges, such as the erosion of intergenerational interactions and the hesitancy to seek support, exacerbated by social isolation and negatively impacting community health.ConclusionsOur study reveals the complex factors affecting rural community sustainability, particularly social isolation influenced by privacy concerns and changing social dynamics. Emphasizing the importance of social cognitive theory, it highlights the need for adaptable healthcare systems and strong community-medical collaborations. Future research should focus on developing culturally sensitive, practical strategies for enhancing these collaborations, especially involving physicians, to address rural communities' unique challenges.

Climate change and water scarcity impacts on sustainability in semi-arid areas: Lessons from the South of Iran

Understanding the effects of complex issues such as water scarcity on human society from the people's perspective is necessary to show how to adapt to these challenges. This research investigates and prioritizes the effects of water scarcity on the sustainability of rural communities through a mixed research methodology, including a case study and a survey in a semi-arid region, located in southern Iran. The results of using the Analytical Hierarchy Processing (AHP) technique showed that local people identify the economic dimension of sustainability as a priority dimension. Moreover, the alternative of unsustainability under water scarcity in the area received the highest priority and had a larger value than the sustainability alternative. This can be the result of the restricting international policies against Iran and the global climatic condition. Local communities, particularly farmers, perceive climate change and water scarcity as a global issue and a local challenge, which causes semi-arid areas to move towards unsustainability rather than sustainability. The sustainability of semi-arid areas under water scarcity requires climate change adaptation, appropriate long-term planning, and the removal of restricting international economic policies against nations.

Key trends of rural development in the world and their projection on Russia

This article is the first attempt by the authors to formulate key trends in the field of rural development. The main tool is a bibliometric analysis based on the Scopus database. In 2021, the priority areas of scientific research are rural tourism, environmental problems in rural areas, the creation of engineering infrastructure, sustainable rural communities as well as climate change and its impact on rural areas. In the course of the study, the authors found that the interest in rural development is growing rapidly: tenfold from 2000 to 2021. We proposed to divide the directions of scientific research into two groups: lower and upper levels. Developed countries are focused on leading research areas, less developed — on the lowest. These include problems of rural poverty, infrastructure, rural population outflow and depopulation. The authors also conducted a desk study to identify key trends in rural development. The projection of these trends onto Russian rural areas opens up new windows of opportunity for them. These are the diversification of the rural economy through rural tourism and the development of alternative types of employment, the establishment of eco-settlements, the production of environmentally friendly farm products, and the creation of new rural settlements in areas that will become climatically favorable as a result of the projected climate change.

Sustainability performance of rural municipalities in Germany

BackgroundSustainable rural development entails efforts to enhance the well-being of rural communities while safeguarding natural resources for future generations. The thorough examination of sustainable rural development is still scarce but nevertheless crucial, as it enables to reveal the various challenges and remaining potentials in rural areas, to identify key stakeholders and their respective roles in promoting sustainable rural development, and to determine the best practices for attaining set goals along the various sustainability dimensions considered. Germany has implemented a range of policies, initiatives, and programs to foster sustainable development, extending its efforts to also encompass rural areas. This study assesses the sustainability performance of rural municipalities in Germany, proposing a novel and comprehensive sustainability benchmarking system. For this purpose, the performance of selected rural municipalities along the ecological, social, economic, and technological dimensions is examined.ResultsBased on the systematic implementation of methodological stages, a rigorous literature review process, a systematic indicator selection, and stringent filtering criteria, the selected indicators of our study cover environmental, energy, quality of life, economic, and technological aspects. These indicators enable to efficiently and effectively measure, compare, and evaluate the sustainability performance of rural municipalities. After normalization, weighting, and aggregation of the considered indicators, the performance is visualized in radar charts. Radar charts are handy for comparing a larger number of variables and displaying them in compact and comprehensible form in a single chart. Finally, the overall relative sustainability performance of the selected rural municipalities in Germany is compared based on an aggregated single score. The adopted methodology of aggregating indicators enables us to assess the sustainability performance of municipalities as well as to highlight variations among them.ConclusionMost databases and sustainable development reports are updated only every couple of years and often do not report the performance of small rural municipalities but only larger (more urban) ones. By conducting a detailed analysis of these specific cases, we can identify key challenges and opportunities unique to rural communities and develop targeted strategies for a more sustainable development. Adding digitalization as a technological value indicator makes our approach more comprehensive than comparable others, and accounts for the important new sustainability dimension of societal transition. This study contributes to the existing literature by proposing a novel sustainability benchmarking system specifically tailored for rural areas. From a practical standpoint, the developed sustainability benchmarking system offers a practical tool for rural municipalities to assess and monitor their sustainability performance and to reflect on variations among them. The identified dimensions and indicators can guide the development of targeted strategies and interventions aimed at enhancing sustainability in rural communities. Finally, policymakers can utilize the benchmarking results to design policies, (incentive) programs, and initiatives that address the specific sustainability challenges faced by rural municipalities and account for limitations in the local potentials.

Сельские сообщества Якутии в условиях деградации многолетнемёрзлых пород: ключевые риски, социальные последствия, механизмы адаптации

During the period of global climate change, the territories of the Russian Federation, within which permafrost is widespread, are at particular risk. The aim of this article is to identify the social consequences of permafrost degradation on the example of a number of rural settlements in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and to determine the emerging mechanisms of adaptation to the challenges associated with changes in the habitual state of the environment. In this regard, for the first time, the villages of Amga, Yunkur, Argakhtakh, Lippe-Atakh and Ulakhan-An, located in Yakutia, were the focus of relevant interdisciplinary research conducted during 2019–2022. The work in these settlements made it possible to establish local features of both the consequences of the degradation of permafrost and the specifics of their perception by the local population. It is noted that in the rural settlements studied, permafrost degradation limits the development of traditional economic activities, including among the Arctic and Subarctic indigenous population, limits the possibilities for the spatial development of settlements, leads to problems with the safety of the housing stock, and hinders transport communication. The observed changes entail an increase in the financial burden on the population, economic entities and local administrations, and negatively affect the social well-being of the inhabitants of the studied villages. At the same time, the conducted research allowed to reveal that the mechanisms of adaptation and sustainability of rural communities that are being formed in this regard are largely based on traditions of rural mutual assistance.

The impacts of COVID-19 on digitalisation and social capital in crofting communities in Scotland

ABSTRACT Increasing digitalisation and access to communication technologies has arguably never been more important to rural communities than during the COVID-19 pandemic. Digitalisation assumes a distinct character when looked at through a rural lens, reliable and accessible digital tools and infrastructure having marked implications for the future of rural communities. This was especially pertinent during COVID-19 lockdowns, when in rural (as well as urban) communities there was a push to host local activities and services online. Using reflections from both in-person and online research engagements with a crofting community in the North West Highlands of Scotland, this paper reflects on how the use of digital tools can support the development of different types of social capital. Successful rural digitalisation has the potential to benefit rural crofting communities in multiple ways: e.g. by supporting rural repopulation efforts, enabling access to new digital markets to sell produce, and supporting active participation in local decision-making through online meetings. Several barriers to realising digital benefits still exist in rural regions with specific digitalisation needs and challenges. The paper reflects on empirical findings and considers the future sustainability of rural crofting communities in the post-COVID, digital age.

Towards sustainable rural communities

The future of rural communities relies on managing knowledge trasnfer and sharing in order to advance towards sustainable rural development. Investing in knowledge sources and management helps rural organisations to drive social growth, fostering cohesive and socially open rural communities. Rural communities may address a knowledge-driven pathway for sustainable rural development. Rural actors and stakeholders contribute to shaping wealthy rural communities by employing the potential of knowledge management, transfer and sharing. Regulatory frameworks support collaboration within rural communities that benefit of knowledge management issues and practices.

Assessment of health risks of PAHs from rural cooking emissions: Neighborhood diffusion and the impact of village settlement characteristics

Solid fuel cooking in rural areas has led to substantial emissions of air pollutants, notably polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), especially in developing countries such as China. The potential health risks associated with outdoor exposure of residents to PAHs from fugitive cooking exhaust within rural settlements also merit consideration. Consequently, this study employs computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques to evaluate the neighborhood diffusion of benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P), a carcinogenic PAH congener, in a cluster shape rural settlement. Subsequently, the health risks associated with outdoor exposure to neighborhood-diffused PAHs were quantified using the incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) for the susceptible population. The simulations encompass four settlement characteristics, including the angle between approaching wind and streets (θ), street width (SW), slit distance (SD), and building arrangement, to analyze their influence on the neighborhood diffusion of PAHs. The results demonstrate that the highest ILCR resulting from outdoor PAHs exposure within the main activity areas of neighboring buildings exceeds the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)'s limit of 1×10−6 across all simulated cases. Additionally, settlement characteristics significantly affect the neighborhood diffusion of cooking-generated B[a]P. Smaller θ and staggered arrangement lead to a reduction in the affected area by B[a]P, but result in higher concentrations and ILCR near the source building. Meanwhile, wider street width proves to be an effective strategy for reducing concentrations and ILCR for both neighboring buildings and entire settlement. These findings offer valuable insights for policymakers and urban planners to develop environmentally sustainable rural communities that minimize health risks associated with cooking activities.

Women in Pandemics and Sustainability of African Rural Communities

Covid-19 pandemic mitigation measures in the global South, particularly African developing countries like Nigeria were inadequate to alleviate socioeconomic effects of the pandemic on the livelihood and survival of rural communities. Rural women dominate the informal sector and have been active in agriculture, food security, health, nutrition, home management, traditional elderly care, and micro and small-scale enterprises. Whilst the effects of the pandemic on Nigerian rural women have been measured, the contribution of rural women to the sustainability of agrarian rural communities in the country have not been studied. This paper explored the role of women in supporting their families and communities for the sustainability of rural communities and challenges they faced as they serve as buffers for the survival of their families and sustenance of livelihood in rural communities during the pandemic. The paper adopted qualitative phenomenological research design. A sample of 30 rural women were drawn from Gbara Village, an agrarian rural community in Sagamu Local Government, Ogun State, Nigeria through convenience sampling and purposive sampling techniques. Semi-structured Interviews, focus group meetings, and documents were used as data sources and descriptive analysis was used to analyses the demographic characteristics of the respondents. The qualitative results were analyzed through content analysis and eight themes emerged. There were responses on contributions of rural women to the sustainability of Gbara Village during the pandemic in agriculture and food security value chain, health and nutrition, home management, traditional elderly care, and rural entrepreneurship. The paper also found that rural women were confronted with socio-economic challenges of gender inequalities, illiteracy, and limited access to technology to enhance their role as change agents in rural communities during the pandemic. The study suggested that the government, organized private sector, development agencies, non-governmental organizations, research institutions, and civil society organizations should priorities and fast-track the attainment of gender equality and women education to empower rural women and increase their capacity for socio-economic transformation of rural communities in Nigeria.

SUSTAINABILITY IN RURAL AGRI-FOOD SYSTEMS BASED ON THE UNDERSTANDING OF THEIR STRUCTURAL AND FUNCTIONAL CHARACTERISTICS: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

<p><strong>Background. </strong>Rural agri-food systems are responsible for the production of most of the food products consumed in urban centers, however, despite the current importance they have in the food systems of populations worldwide, their structure and functioning, both key aspects for understanding its sustainability, have not been studied enough. <strong>Objective. </strong>This study was aimed at describing the conditions associated to agri-food systems sustainability in rural communities based on the understanding of their structural and functional elements, through a systematic review of scientific literature.<strong> Methodology. </strong>A comprehensive search for original papers in three different databases, ScienceDirect, Scopus and PubMed, was carried out, filtering the results based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, and subsequently adding grey literature.<strong> Results. </strong>Our findings indicate that sustainability in these agri-food systems relies on socioecological interrelations, whose environmental and sociocultural aspects are more relevant than the principles of the market economy, which become a menace for these systems. One of our most relevant findings is the essential role of distribution networks for ensuring sustainability.<strong> Implications: </strong>It is necessary to assess the different categories defined in agri-food systems in order to define in indigenous and rural communities the adjustments they require to achieve sustainability. <strong>Conclusions. </strong>Rural agri-food systems behave as complex, adaptive systems, conditioned by the multiple factors and dimensions of their biophysical, sociocultural, and political environment, as well as by the role of gender in their functioning.</p>

Exploring ecological strategies for the sustainability of rural communities

Rural eco-communities can be defined as rural communities that emphasise ecological and environmental protection and have comfortable living spaces. The ecological development of rural community has drawn wide attention of the government in China and numerous rural eco-communities thus emerged. In the case of a typical rural eco-community named Yanhe where we have continuously carried out tracking research over the past decade, this study provides a general analysis framework to obtain ecological strategies based on the ecological evaluation method and indicator system. For further analysis, some creative indicators, such as relative evaluation scores (RES), positive evaluation scores (PES) and negative evaluation scores (NES) were designed. These indicators could be applied to analyse the underlying reasons and providing improvement countermeasures. Combining the cross-analysis, specific ecological strategies have been proposed mainly from improving the treatment of water resources, the utilisation of garbage and the development and management of renewable energy. Furthermore, our research found that resource utilisation and energy development are major ecological problem in China at present. In response to these, some policy implications were put forward mainly include: to optimise the rural clean energy system; to further improve the rural water environment; and to further encourage public participation.

Sustainable Rural Community Development Experiences and Lessons

The purpose of this article is multifactorial. The primary question we investigate here refers to human barriers and established practices in a local county that obstructs pathways towards a sustainable future, as well as the measures taken to overcome difficulties and their societal impact. We base our analysis solely on the experience gained during the 2012-2015 planning period for the sustainable development of Vytina county-Greece. Our research focuses on sustainable development and its dependence on local community behaviours, as well as alternative ways for citizen involvement in the development process in order to avoid obstacles encountered in established bottom-up methodologies. Societal constraints include the complexity of communications and relationships between residents, the community's existing internal processes, a complex external environment, and a lack of shared vision which all contribute to the ego of the inhabitants, and to their time availability. These constraints represent obstacles and threats. The fundamentals of the planning process should neutralize and override these obstacles. It is important to recognize and measure these constraints and evaluate their societal impact. Weak predictions/estimates, inconsistent goals, top-down policy decisions, short-sighted planning, resistance to change, and intractable local government can all be barriers to bottom-up methodologies. The bottom-up process, fair and meaningful, is somewhat cumbersome and requires time to mature in order for sustainability practices to be effective. But the pilot application can help foster alternative approaches that allow the citizen to enter the era of sustainability easier and faster. The prerequisite is the existence of a rich cultural heritage. Facing all these problems in the planning for the sustainable development of a local community today, I wonder how a sustainable outer space civilization can be accomplished in the distant future when we have finally arrived at, what Michio K aku refers to as, the God equation or theory of everything.

Out of Print: What the Pandemic-Era Newspaper Crisis in Australia Teaches Us about the Role of Rural and Regional Newspapers in Creating Sustainable Communities

Print newspapers tend to form part of the conversation on sustainable development goals in terms of the ability to communicate goals to the public, but to what degree are print newspapers part of the solution to sustainable rural and regional communities in particular? The COVID-19 pandemic coincided with a global crisis in print journalism. This article takes Australia as an extreme case study of the collapse of print news, tracing both the immediate causes as well as the scale of the decline, and the impacts in terms of community conversation, building social capital, and improving governance, particularly in sub-populations such as the aged, and in digitally disadvantaged regional and remote communities. This paper uses a range of secondary and primary data sources to build a paradoxical picture of a revival of rural and regional journalism, a revival that is focused on survival rather than revisiting the activist origins of early independent rural and regional media in the country. The new papers include part of the traditional mission of print news—building social capital—but are less engaged in creating political and financial transparency. It is concluded that the new wave of rural and regional titles may be simply at an early stage of evolution, but with the digital divide in Australia reducing, they may have little time to evolve.

Religious Leaders and Social Sustainability in Rural Communities in Indonesia

Religious Leaders and Social Sustainability in Rural Communities in Indonesia