27 June 2013: A conference on ‘Living Local Economies’ has called for innovative financial opportunities for rural areas and localization of economies. The conference also heard calls for anchoring local development in communities.

The conference, which took place from 25-26 June 2013, in Åre, Sweden, was sponsored in part by the Nordic Council of Ministers (NORDEN), in advance of the annual meeting of Nordic Ministers for Fisheries and Aquaculture, Agriculture, Food and Forestry. The conference addressed local development issues, including how to use bio-economy initiatives for sustainable local development.

The conclusions of the meeting identified the need to facilitate funding for rural communities to combat the trend towards accumulating capital in urban areas, and emphasized the importance of social capital. Ministers and other participants discussed elements within the new EU funding systems that encourage bottom-up local development. [NORDEN Press Release] [Living Local Economies Conference Website]