• Guadalupe Bécares is the author of the article “Empty (but alive) Spain”
• Guadalupe speaks with the National Rural Network about depopulation and the revitalization of rural areas to reverse this trend.

It is precisely social and environmental issues that led him to explore basic rural issues this summer in an article for Circle magazine. "Empty (but Alive) Spain" discusses depopulation and the social and economic dynamics that can be implemented to balance the flows between rural and urban areas .

RRN: In the article, you call for a partnership between rural and environmental sectors to create green jobs and cite the successful case of Agroberry. Do you know of any other successful rural entrepreneurship cases similar to Nuria Álvarez's?

Guadalupe Bécares: For a few years now, green jobs have been gaining ground in many rural areas. The rural world has a great natural diversity that needs to be cared for, and this can be a great vector of opportunity to create jobs related to organic farming, natural and sustainable tourism, forest resources, and so on. It also has a vast tangible and intangible cultural heritage that must be protected. Nuria Álvarez's Agroberry project is led by a woman. Indeed, women are the great entrepreneurs of the rural world. Another project is Apadrina un Olivo (Sponsor an Olive Tree), which began as a virtual project to save an olive grove in Oliete (Teruel), and which I think is worth mentioning, especially for how its promoters have managed to open the business to the production of organic oil and cosmetics. It's interesting to talk about the Wolf Thematic Center in Robledo de Sanabria (Zamora) . Here, you can observe a protected species like the wolf in its natural habitat, while creating a space for conservation and environmental education. In doing so, the center becomes a tourist attraction for an area with incredible natural resources, such as the Sierra de la Culebra.

RRN: Do you think the lockdown and the pandemic are fostering a new perspective on rural life? Has the desire to return to the village increased?

GB: Although I doubt that hordes of people will return to their villages—among other reasons, due to a lack of means or resources to do so—I think there has been, or may be, a certain change. During the hardest moments of lockdown, one of the first issues that came to light was our way of life in cities. Obviously, spending three months locked up in 30 square meters isn't the same as spending three months locked up in 200 square meters, but it's a question that's been around for some time. It's still too early to know if that desire has increased, but I think the pandemic has highlighted the possibility that it may be time to rethink certain priorities. The questions will, once again, be the same as they were before the coronavirus: are we willing to give up certain services and amenities, the urban lifestyle, and return to the village, where today there aren't any? Do we want to move the city to the countryside or adapt our lives to the pace and reality of the rural world? These will be individual decisions, reflecting each individual's priorities and life plan, but they will be influenced by the public policies implemented in the coming months and years.

RRN: If people wanted to make that return or migration now... What conditions must be met for it to be successful?

GB: Realistically, the rural world, in general, has been suffering from decades of neglect that cannot be reversed in the short term. It's naive to think it can be fixed in a few months. If we want that to change, in my opinion, the first step is to return to the rural world the infrastructure that has been stripped away in recent years. There's a huge amount of work ahead to guarantee education, healthcare, communications, public transportation, internet access at an acceptable speed... And, of course, we must also promote job creation in rural areas themselves, as well as teleworking, which will not be real or feasible until all of the above is guaranteed. It's a titanic task that requires enormous investments, but above all, planning and determination.

RRN: The article reflects the difficulty of ensuring that rural aid and information reach the various stakeholders (municipalities, stakeholders, associations, citizens, etc.). The work of the Local Action Groups in unifying this information is very important for the National Rural Network. Do you know of any other way to centralize and/or disseminate this information?

GB: In most towns, information flows more quickly or more effectively between neighbors . The network of rural communities is very effective—cultural associations, women's associations, etc.—partly because it has an advantage not always found in cities: proximity and the ability to more easily reach people you know or interact with. This has also been made clear by the neighborhood and support movements we've seen during the pandemic. Local politics is very effective and has a great transformative capacity.