Revitalizing rural areas in Spain

Curbing rural depopulation has become one of the great challenges of Spanish society. From our two lines of action, Sustainable Food and Citizen Art, we support projects that promote the dignification and development of the rural environment.

In Spain, more than 85% of the population is concentrated in less than 20% of the territory. According to the National Institute of Statistics, rural areas lose about five inhabitants every hour in Aragon, Galicia, Extremadura and, above all, in Castilla y León, the largest community in area and the one that has lost the most population: 125,000 people in the last decade.

In addition, 48% of municipalities have a population density of less than 12.5 inhabitants per km2, a threshold beyond which the European Union considers it to be low.

These figures, together with the loss of public services, such as education and health, as well as the lack of job opportunities, are the basis of the mobilizations for the “Emptied Spain”, a concept popularized from the essay by the Spanish author Sergio del Molino to talk about the “depopulated Spain”, which had its peak in the demonstration of March 31 in Madrid.

Be part of the solution, not the problem

Today, we can highlight 15 projects that we support in Spain that contribute to recovering the rural environment, generating employment opportunities and strengthening the stability of the population.

Andalusia, Asturias, Aragon, Castilla y León, Catalonia, Extremadura, Galicia, Madrid and Murcia concentrate some of the most relevant actions of the foundation in Spain that contribute to dignifying the rural environment.

Our projects, our commitments

From the Sustainable Food line, we support initiatives with an impact on the transformation of rural reality throughout the Spanish territory, some located in Extremadura, Andalusia, Catalonia and Aragon.

Among the projects are: “Soy Ecoánime“, “Cabrama“, “Silvopastoreo Prescrito“, “Red Andaluza de Semillas“, “Can Moragues“, “Apadrina un olivo” or “Circuito Navàs“.

“In our Sustainable Food line, we support projects that promote territorialized food systems (SAT), collective catering, agroecological transition, the multidisciplinary approach to food… They are transformative in rural areas, generate employment, local productive fabric, promote biodiversity, care for the environment and have an impact on health, as well as on the recovery and updating of traditional rural knowledge,” says Eva Torremocha, Head of the Sustainable Food Program in Spain.

From the line of action of Arte Ciudadano we also support various projects that contribute to curbing rural depopulation: “This type of project reactivates rural traditions, knowledge and cultures from contemporary approaches, giving them a new validity. We must promote stories and imaginaries that value other non-urban ways of life: cultural policy is a decisive pillar for rural development”, says Carlos Almela, Head of the Citizen Art Programme in Spain.

Some of them are: “Sierra el paisaje como partitura“, “Escuela de Violeros“, “Los sonidos de la Escuela Rural“, “Campo Adentro/Inland“, “Mano Común“, “Naturalizarte”, AADK Sonora Escuela de Sonido Experimental” and “Escuela de Música itinerante de Siero“.

The rural environment faces great challenges in terms of job creation, with respect to its sustainable development, digitalization, dignification of it, also in relation to the preservation of its biodiversity and the updating of its sociocultural traditions through the application and integration of the ecofeminism approach. At the Foundation we want to continue accompanying this transformation process through the projects we support.

Sharing learnings

With the collaboration of all the projects we support both in Sustainable Food and in Citizen Art, we collect useful learning in a participatory way to share with society, with the aim of generating a greater impact and increasing the number of initiatives of this type.

In addition to our grant programme, we developed a social impact investment programme in which we selected and supported social and solidarity economy projects in both lines of action. We can also develop projects or programs on our own initiative or jointly with other actors.

You can discover our Sustainable Food resources here.

You can discover our Citizen Art resources here.

Photo © Cabrama, Andalusian Seed Network, Sponsor an olive tree, Campo Adentro, Sierra Lab