Down to Earth

The consequences of climate change represent a common challenge across Europe, with multiple effects including increasing frequency and severity of natural disasters such as wildfires and landslides. The specific impacts vary across the EU, but rural communities affected by depopulation and land abandonment are particularly exposed. At the same time, these two factors also have an impact on the risk and seriousness of natural disasters, leading to a vicious circle of mutually reinforcing challenges.

Retaining population and encouraging environmentally sustainable practices in key sectors such as agriculture and land management will be crucial to curb environmental deterioration and contribute to risk prevention. The Down-to-Earth project gathers a group of organisations with diverse institutional profiles and expertise, all working on different aspects related to disaster risk reduction and rural development, from regions across Europe that share similar challenges in rural areas. This partnership will work to identify and promote win-win solutions to manage, maintain and enhance natural capital to reduce the risk and impact of environmental disasters while generating economic and social opportunities to attract population to rural areas.

The project will allow for mutual learning through the exchange of experiences to increase the capacities of the regional and local authorities and relevant stakeholders from the participating rural areas to address the common challenges of depopulation and natural hazard risk prevention in rural areas. This will lead to a better use of available tools and resources, including Cohesion Policy funds, by the participating regions. Ultimately, the project will seek to promote sustainable development and increase the disaster risk resilience of rural communities across Europe.