Canary Islands approve comprehensive strategy for rural, demographic and territorial cohesion
- Rural Pact
- Rural Revitalisation Platform
- Stronger Rural Areas
- Connected rural areas
- Resilient rural areas
- Prosperous rural areas
The Government of the Canary Islands (Spain) has approved the Canarian Strategy on Demographic Challenge and Territorial Cohesion along with an Executive Action Plan. The documents provide a roadmap to guide public planning in the coming years towards balanced territorial development, rural vitality and social sustainability across the archipelago.
Image by the Government of the Canary Islands
Developed through an extensive participatory process involving institutions, social and economic partners, academia and citizens, the strategy marks the first integrated effort to address demographic change in all its dimensions, from population loss in rural and mid-altitude areas to urban concentration pressures in larger cities.
The associated Executive Action Plan includes 43 measures and 428 specific actions, built around a dual approach: encouraging population retention and rural revitalisation in depopulating areas, while promoting balance and containment in overpopulated territories. It integrates actions in housing, education, environment, tourism, territorial management and local development to reinforce social and spatial cohesion.
Some of the most innovative measures include:
- A virtual office for the demographic challenge providing technical assistance to small and rural municipalities;
- Launch of territorial information systems (SITCAN) and demographic challenge viewers, integrating over a hundred indicators for local and island-level planning;
- Pilot projects in robotics applied to agriculture, managed by the Canary Islands Technological Institute (ITC), to attract young people to farming, promote generational renewal and support municipalities under 10 000 inhabitants;
- Set-up of a Canary Islands demographic challenge observatory as an online hub for information, data and support tools;
- Normative advances including a specific law on the demographic challenge and amendments to the Land Law to facilitate positive discrimination for municipalities facing challenges.
Aligned with the Canary Islands Agenda 2030, the strategy seeks to attract and retain new residents – particularly young people – by diversifying the economy, improving services in rural and sparsely populated areas, and promoting sustainable urban mobility, green spaces and inclusive housing policies.
Through this initiative, the Canary Islands take a decisive step toward ensuring territorial balance and rural cohesion across all islands, contributing to the objectives of the EU rural vision and Rural Pact to make rural territories stronger, more connected, resilient and prosperous.