Building transformative capacities for climate-friendly rural regions of the Western Balkans and Western Macedonia (Greece)

For a climate-friendly and sustainable economy in rural regions that is both resilient and adaptable, ecological and social objectives must be pursued from the outset. This is not a contradiction, but an imperative necessity if structurally weak regions are to be fit for the future and not left behind. As part of the project GreenRuralDeal, which we organised together with the Wuppertal Institute, the Balkan Green Foundation, LGA Western Macedonia, and the RES Foundation, we assisted rural municipalities in Greece, Kosovo, and Serbia in developing transformative capacities and solutions for a climate-friendly economy. In the course of the project, tools and approaches for practical application were developed from various bottom-up processes in the municipalities and regions with relevant  stakeholders in the three target regions of the GreenRuralDeal project. In this policy brief, we summarise our results and experiences and discuss recommendations for other rural regions with comparable contexts that are going through similar bottom-up processes.

The 'Green Rural Deal - Sustainable and Smart Transition Strategies for Rural Municipalities' project was supported by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature, Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety, and was an initiation between Balkan Green Foundation, Wuppertal Institut für Klima, Umwelt, Energie, Germanwatch e.V, Regional Association of Local Government of Western Macedonia and RES Foundation.