Sixth Stakeholder Meeting in Western Greece on May 6th

The University of Patras, through the Departments of Sustainable Agriculture and Civil Engineering, successfully held the 6th Down to Earth Regional Stakeholder Meeting on Tuesday 6th of May 2025 in Agrinio, Western Greece, focusing on strengthening rural resilience against the risks of depopulation and climate change.

In his introductory speech, Professor Evangelos Papadakis of the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Patras, project coordinator in the Region of Western Greece, analysed the dual objective of the project, namely the study of actions and policy interventions on the key and interrelated issues of depopulation and the climate crisis, especially in sparsely populated and mountainous regions, as well as the submission of qualitative improvement proposals for the programmes under implementation. As he emphasised, the University of Patras, as a body for research and knowledge promotion, can contribute to the efforts made by municipalities and local communities to tackle resilience challenges in the region and in the mountainous areas of Western Greece.

A review and presentation of the conclusions from the Conference and study visits held in Slovenia (Gorenjska region) within the framework of the 4th Project Partners’ Meeting of the Down to Earth Project on 4–6 February 2025 took place. Very interesting good practices were presented by that region, focusing on retaining young farmers and attracting newcomers, some of which could be adopted in the Region of Western Greece.

Subsequently, an update was provided on the outcome of the design and submission of the pilot action proposal "Exploitation of forest and agricultural residual biomass to address environmental risks and attract new farmers in depopulated areas."

Finally, there was an update and consultation on the Region of Western Greece’s policy improvement proposals regarding addressing depopulation risks and enhancing environmental resilience in rural areas.