Under the global trend of addressing climate change and achieving carbon neutrality, rural areas play an important role in addressing environmental pollution, biodiversity loss, climate change, food safety, biogas and food production, natural resource conservation, and renewable energy production. The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China for the first time proposed the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy, which means that the development of the mainland's "three rural areas" has entered a new historical stage, especially after the "double carbon" goal is proposed.
In terms of achieving sustainable rural development, the EU has made corresponding planning and layout. The European Green New Deal, adopted by the European Union in December 2019, is a systemic change to achieve sustainable economic and social development. In order to promote change, various policies have been introduced, among which the "Long-term Vision of Rural Areas in the Eu" (hereinafter referred to as "Vision") released by the European Commission in June 2021, with the theme of "Jointly Building a Rural Future", proposes a "Rural Convention" and a "Rural Action Plan", aiming to meet the challenges of rural development in Europe through the new opportunities brought by the EU's green and digital transformation, and to give play to the positive role of rural areas in achieving the sustainable development and transformation of the whole society.
Based on the analysis of the EU's "Vision" plan, the mainland's rural revitalization strategy is more systematically laid out, in line with the global concept of sustainable development, and the action plan with Chinese characteristics and in line with China's national conditions is designed, which is of enlightening value for the mainland to accelerate the promotion of the "double carbon" goal and the rural revitalization strategy.
01 Goals and priorities of the EU 2040 Rural Plan
Rural areas are at the heart of the EU's economic development. Using the Scenario building of foresight method, "Vision" analyzes the scenario logic from the two dimensions of demographic change and pluralistic governance, and depicts the rural urbanization scenario (Rurbanties), the rural renewal scenario (Rural Renewal), the rural connection scenario (Rural Connections) and the rural specialization scenario (Rural). Specialisation) four scenarios.
By outlining the possible development scenario of the EU rural areas in the next 40 years, helping to understand the preferred development goals and development characteristics in the future, and focusing on their common interests from an EU-wide perspective, we will seek common standards for rural revitalization and development. These four scenarios reflect what EU policymakers expect from EU rural areas by 2040: stronger, more connected, more sustainable and more prosperous. To help rural areas reach their full potential and achieve common goals, the European Commission has further developed a more comprehensive and concrete EU Rural Action Plan.
Given that rural areas in the EU account for 45% of the land area, 60% of the total population and many infrastructure lags behind, rural areas are an important consideration in the EU's green and digital transformation strategy. In order to effectively respond to the challenges of globalization, urbanization and ageing, and to extract economic and social benefits from green and digital transformation, and to help the EU achieve the 2040 rural development goals, the EU Rural Action Plan proposes four aspects of policies and integrates them.
First, promote sustainable transport and digitalization in rural areas by improving transport infrastructure, digital infrastructure and connectivity in rural areas; second, create innovative ecosystems based on rural revitalization platform construction and research and innovation in rural communities; third, implement action programmes for low-carbon agriculture by supporting rural energy transition and addressing climate change, advocate soil health and food safety, and improve environmental, climatic and social resilience; Use entrepreneurship and social forces to vigorously support the diversification of the economy in rural areas.
02 Ideas and characteristics of EU 2040 rural planning
1. Problem-oriented, dynamic policy, highlighting the key points. The EU's rural development policy has obvious phased characteristics. From the "Cork Declaration" proposed in 1996 to the "Cork Declaration 2.0" in 2016, and then to the 2040 Rural Strategy proposed in 2021, the EU's rural policy objectives have shown a spiral of change, from the initial focus on the competitiveness of the agricultural industry to the focus on rural modernization, rural ecology and rural diversification and coordinated development.
At present, the mainland rural revitalization strategy focuses on rural construction on the basis of consolidating the results of poverty alleviation, so clarifying the phased characteristics and corresponding priorities of the mainland rural revitalization strategy is of great guiding significance for the implementation of the "Rural Revitalization Strategic Planning Implementation Report (2020)". Especially in recent years, under the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic on production and life, policy formulation should identify key change points, supplement and improve the normalization management plan for epidemic prevention and control in line with the rural revitalization policy, and play an important role in ensuring the planning and implementation of the rural revitalization strategy.
2. Bottom-up, multi-party participation, collaborative governance. Different from the top-down intervention of the government, the EU mainly adopts a bottom-up operation mode when implementing policies, that is, the implementation of rural development policies in the form of villagers' autonomy and government supervision, and the relevant policies of the EU stipulate that all construction projects for the development of rural areas in member states must be planned by local social groups and joint institutions, and then the planning is submitted to the directors for review and approval before it can obtain the financial support of the EU Agricultural and Rural Development Fund.
The typical model for the implementation of this principle is the introduction for the first time of the LEADER rural development strategy in the EU Common Agricultural Policy, which aims to mobilize the initiative of stakeholders, social and economic actors and to harmonize the relationship between national, regional and local autonomy. People-to-people interaction and policy interaction at the top can maximize the possibility of mobilizing popular participation in order to better target problems.
The EU Rural Vision 2040 is based on the organization of multi-stakeholder consultations and workshops, and the extensive collection of views from rural communities and businesses, to publicly publish four forward-looking scenarios for the future of rural development. Drawing on the experience of the design and implementation of relevant EU policies, the mainland should implement the rural revitalization strategy, change government functions, change from managers to service providers, increase coordination between government departments, and actively promote the participation of local actors, foreign enterprises, non-governmental organizations and other parties.
3. Policy integration, strengthen convergence, and exert effects. The EU has always paid attention to the integration and convergence of relevant policies in the agricultural sector, and the common agricultural policy with a 7-year cycle has reflected the policy continuity and the coordination between various policy instruments. The EU 2040 Rural Vision is essentially part of the political priority "Promoting New Measures for European Democracy" put forward by the European Commission, and is also an orderly convergence of packages of policies such as "European Digital Transformation", "European Green New Deal" and "European Recovery Plan".
In 2018, the European Commission embarked on the construction of the rule of law and policies for rural revitalization, put forward legislative proposals on common agricultural policies, and further clarified nine major development goals, namely, ensuring fair incomes for farmers, improving agricultural competitiveness, balancing the forces of all parties in the food chain, responding to climate change, protecting the environment, protecting landscapes and biodiversity, supporting the renewal of agricultural operators for generations, stimulating rural vitality, and ensuring food and health quality.
Drawing on the implementation experience of the EU's rural development, the mainland should strengthen policy convergence and system architecture, explore the internal logic consistent with the strategic orientation of "common prosperity", "high-quality development", "sustainable development" and "double carbon" goals, and fully coordinate the scale effects of different policies in the design and implementation process.
Wen | Cao Xuanwei, Associate Professor, International Business School, XJTLU; Wang Liang, Deputy Director of the Overseas Cooperation Department of Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute; Yan Zhiwei, Lecturer, School of Economics and Management, Shanxi University; and Li Shuang, Graduate Student, XJTLU
Editor: Wang Qiurong
Source: Economics Guide for Sustainable Development, Issue 12, 2021
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