Regional and Sustainable Development in Italy (as a member of EU)

Today‘s Europe faces profound structural transformations as identified in the Europe 2020 Strategy, in particular the transition towards a green, low carbon and resource efficient economy, the demographic ageing of our society and rapid technological advances. Transforming the economy along these paths will increase competitiveness and provide important sources of growth and jobs, as well as addressing economic and social needs.The apparition of agriculture about ten thousand years ago, is considered the first great economic revolution in human history. With it begins a new history, completely different from that which preceded it. Its spreading across the globe changed the relationship between man and nature. Through the invention of agriculture, man has begun to create necessary food products, increasing efficiency of the invested effort and reducing the chaos that marked his existence, there have emerged and have increased human settlements, cultivated land, domestic animals and, on this basis, a new way of life emerged. [12]The agricultural sector of rural development satisfies an economic way of reasoning which turns out to be insufficient to enable rural areas to apprehend the new issues of territorial cohesion. In order to contribute to Lisbon and Gšteborg objectives, rural development strategies should focus on innovation and transfer of knowledge and good practices, thanks interregional cooperation. The objectives of the EU rural development policy - also known as the second pillar of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) – focus on the enhancement of the social and economic cohesion, on the improvement of competitiveness in farming and forestry sectors, and on the amelioration of the environment aiming at landscape conservation and sustainable development.