mOther Earth: Reviving Rural

mOther Earth is an international program to revive rural Europe by mobilizing local youth and contributing to a green, digital, and resilient recovery of its economy. It has been officially recognized and published by the United Nations as the SDG Acceleration Action #SDGAction46967.

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The project mOther Earth by Think Tank AlterContacts aims to support the creation of opportunities for social and economic development for rural communities. By integrating sustainable methods and innovative approaches with rich natural resources and the cultural heritage of rural areas, we aim to create self-sufficient communities driven by youth and female entrepreneurs.

The main principle of the proposed project is the integration of traditional solutions that are inherently sustainable with new most innovative sustainable ideas.

We will bring together local people, businesses, authorities, NGOs, schools, researchers, start-ups, and investors to co-create an alternative, green, sustainable and prosperous future for the rural areas and their present and future residents. As the Global Think Tank for Sustainable Development, we bring our facilitation and training capabilities, sustainability and innovation expertise, extended network, and the power to connect. The DNA of the project is Rural Development.

The goal is to revive and repopulate the rural areas of Spain. It will be achieved through integrating several pillars: Ecological transition and energy; Agrifood; Biotechnology; Social Entrepreneurship. Other areas of focus include urban design, human settlements, rural ecosystems, stewardship of natural resources, biomimicry, sustainable construction, agroecology, permaculture, circularity, and sustainable living. In line with the Next Generation EU, the idea is to create Villages of the Future (Las Aldeas del Futuro) while preserving the local communities, environment, and cultural heritage.

We are looking to preserve and promote traditional arts and crafts. We will be engaging elders who can teach them to the students and school children who will acquire these rare vocational skills. With a possibility to come live in these rural communities upon completion of school or university.

We will work together with local businesses and farmers to help them build more sustainable business models, train successors, and modernize their processes to have a positive or zero impact on the environment.

In the first phase, we address key problems of rural Spain (especially España Vaciada): population decline; aging; lack of employment; brain drain; and environmental degradation. The approach to solving these is to create Villages of the Future – innovation settlements that bring researchers, schools, startups, businesses, experts, and investors to reside there and co-create solutions to the most pressing local problems together with the community.

Once we have defined the practice that can be applied more widely, we will create a “learn by doing” movement. We’ll invite representatives from rural communities of the EU and Spanish-speaking countries worldwide to come, stay, learn and then bring this model to their villages with our guidance.