A Rural Sustainable Development Model for the Eastern Mediterranean

The rural regions which lie along and behind the coasts of the Mediterranean vary very greatly in their geomorphology, climate, state of economic development, human culture and other factors.   However, very many of them display common characteristics of environmental fragility (for a variety of reasons), weak and narrowly- based economies, fragile social structures (e.g. marked by out-migration and ageing) and relative weakness or conservatism in institutional structures.

The Rural Sustainable Development Model was formulated as a result of more than two years of work in an action-research programme known as the Kiládhes (River Valleys) Project, which, although focused, on Cyprus as the main study area, involved three areas in the eastern Mediterranean : the River Valleys area , in south west Cyprus, the Sitia region, in the eastern part of the island of Crete (Greece) and the region of Stavroupoli in Thrace (Greece), as shown by the three arrows.

• A Summary of the River Valleys Project         (MS Word Document)

• A Summary of the River Valleys Project           (Acrobat Portable Document Format)

• The Model      (MS Word Document)

• The Model      (Acrobat Portable Document Format)

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(c) Laona Foundation for the Conservation and Regeneration of the Cypriot Countryside, 2002-3