The following paper advocates an active rural employment policy in order to reduce rural poverty in the development countries and initiate a sustainable development process. The permanent large increases in the population call for a significant number of employment and income opportunities. As the agricultural sector’s capacity to provide employment is limited, the only alternative is the rural...

One of the key issues will be the improved knowledge of processes and dynamics for a consolidated European regional development policy in the future. Furthermore “Sustainability” has become one of the crucial terms in the public discussion on regional development. Within the agricultural agenda organic farming is perceived as one major paths for sustainable development. Therefore the paper focu...

Some 50% of the people in the world live in rural areas, often under harsh conditions and in poverty. The need for knowledge of how to improve living conditions is well documented. In response to this need, new knowledge of how to improve living conditions in rural areas and elsewhere is continuously being developed by researchers and practitioners around the world. People in rural areas, in pa...

The gathering of rural type in Guilan plains is a kind of planning for physical development of rural settlements that aims at changing dwellers' lifestyle from a dispersed to a semi-dispersed state. This change will reduce the problems and difficulties of villages. In addition, it is an optimal way to exploit the resources and facilities for making a desirable spatial organization for villagers...

The need for sustainable development has been widely recognized and sustainable development has become a hot topic of various disciplines even though the role of ergonomics in it is seldom reported or considered. This study conducts a systematic survey of research publications in the fields of ergonomics and sustainable development over the past two decades (1992-2011), in order to identify the...

The Biosphere Reserve (BR) concept aims at encouraging sustainable development (SD) towards sustainability on the ground by promoting three core functions: conservation, development, and logistic support. Sweden and Ukraine exemplify the diverse governance contexts that BRs need to cope with. We assessed how the BR concept and its core functions are captured in national legislations. The result...

Research on the land use efficiency of rural living spaces is at the core of conflicts about current rural land use and ecological environment construction in China. It can be effectively dealt with through the rational and healthy use of rural land, by promoting sustainable development and urban and rural coordination. Building on the foundation of ecosystem metabolism and sustainable developm...

This paper presents the findings of a case study of a Tribal community pursuing a green growth & livelihood strategy based on organic agriculture. Using the sustainable rural livelihoods framework, the paper identifies three different organic livelihood strategies involving varying degrees of capitals. The paper concludes that understanding the implications of these different organic strategies...