Strategic role of Geography in the EU agricultural regional development policies: tools and applications to innovation dynamics in Italy and in rural areas of the Apulia region
Labianca MARILENA, University of Foggia, Italy
Agriculture and rural areas are at the heart of the European Green Deal, and the programming of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), starting from 2023, will represent a key tool to achieve, in an integrated and strategic way, specific objectives indicated in the policies of European countries, such as the Farm to Fork and Biodiversity programs. The new CAP aims to provide highly results-oriented tools to support the socio-economic contexts of rural areas in order to pursue objectives of social, environmental and economic sustainability, favoring transition paths towards smart, resilient and diversified agriculture able to guarantee food security and strengthening actions for the environment and climate. However, various obstacles in terms of implementation and application of knowledge, innovation capacity and infrastructure stand in the way, especially at the local level in marginal rural areas. Context factors and innovation processes, aimed at stimulating, supporting and consolidating them, will have a transversal role on agricultural production activities, and strategic for the development of marginal rural areas.
Therefore, in the European debate, various questions including the methods of drawing up development plans, the tools for understanding and representing regional contexts, and the assessment of territorial impacts are discussed. In this contribution, in particular, through applications developed in a GIS environment, using resources and data from qualified Observatories, spatial concentrations of innovation will be considered and compared on a national scale and, to highlight the method adaptations connected to changes in scale, we will refer to the context of the Apulia region, by examining the impacts of innovation at the local scale in the short and medium term. At last, we will reflect on the strategic role of the Geography within the current and future debate about regional development policies.
Mots clés : Agricultural European policies|innovation dynamics|applications|Italy|Apulia
A104476LM