News | 14 Mar 2024

Education and training projects on rural depopulation and environmental sustainability

Discover a range of ERASMUS+ education and training projects tackling environmental sustainability and depopulation in rural and coastal areas across the EU.

Education and training projects

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A set of pan-European cooperation projects provide training and capacity building in environmental sustainability, including:

  • technical skills on sustainable fisheries and aquaculture (‘Green to Blue’ project);
  • exchange of knowledge and skills on biodiversity preservation in rural and maritime areas of European islands (‘BioIslands’ project);
  • capacity building for municipal employees in local strategy design for climate neutrality (‘Cities Go Climate Neutral’ project).

Tackling the issue of rural depopulation, the Spanish ‘Erasmus rURal’ project of the University of La Rioja encourages early childhood and primary education students to carry out internships in schools located in sparsely populated Rioja municipalities. "The aim is to energise the rural world with young people who want to do their internships there and see if, as a result, they are encouraged to live there," says Marian Martínez Calvo, Vice-Rector at the University of La Rioja.