Cantabria and Greece: similarities and differences.

Two of the Greek participants, Sofia Georgara and Christos Chavas, have shared with us a comparison between the south of Cantabria and the rural areas of Greece:

Our 10-day trip to Cantabria offered us a thorough and spherical overview of the conditions of rural development in the area. We made a few observations:

There is a tendency for innovation and implementation of new and sustainable ideas.

Few young people have returned, but still it would need more in order to have a strong community capable of imposing changes and improvements.

There is a lot of potential for agritourism and rural tourism, that should be developed and promoted, since at the moment alternative and cultural tourism seem to prevail

The cultural capital of the area is of high value and should be further preserved and promoted, creating an holistic brand of the whole region.

Regarding rural development, we observed that there is a lack in subproducts from animals (i.e. milk, cheese etc) since the farming animals are used only for meat supply.

As far as the comparison with the Greek rural reality is concerned, we spotted a few similarities, as well as differences. First of all, there are noticeable similarities that have to do with the cultural needs that people in the mountains used to have. Common morals and traditions that are strongly connected with the religion and the mountain’s lifestyle as the elements of nature. What’s more, altitude, vegetation and fauna are common in both areas and that has as a result it hosts common species of wildlife and these in turn affect the way of life of humans (relationship between human-beings and wolves, bears etc.) On the other hand, one of the most remarkable difference has to do with the farming methods. In Greece, farming includes not only cows, but also sheep and goats -the population of cows is actually smaller than the sheep and goats one- along with a variety of dairy products. More attention is payed to milk and cheese production (and combination of different milks as first material) instead of meat production. Contrasting Cantabria, Greece does not farm horses as this meat is not part of the local diet, resulting in some local breeds facing the danger of extinction. The agricultural sector works more or less on the same level, always dependent on the market needs.

Sophia Georgara has a masters in Sustainable Tourism and Local Development and that I am working on the field of rural development in mountain areas.
Christos Chavas is biologist and conservationist.