The Provincial Council of Almeria has once again become the national epicentre of actions in the fight against depopulation with the celebration of the conference ‘For an intelligent rural territory. The president of the Almeria Provincial Council, Javier A. The president said that “this forum, promoted by Manuel Campo Vidal, consolidates our national leadership as a benchmark in the fight against depopulation. Manuel, we are very grateful that as president of Next Educación you have set your sights on the province of Almeria so that we can experience this conference as part of the Chair of the Demographic Challenge and Depopulation that you direct. It is a recognition of all the work that we are promoting from the Provincial Council in a transversal way to take on the rural exodus”.
Garcia has exposed some data to understand the population characteristics, as well as the great potential of the province of Almeria to take on the demographic challenge as 64% of the population of Almeria resides in municipalities under 20,000 inhabitants, that 70% of the population resides in municipalities on the coast, which has the highest birth rate in the peninsula, the youngest average age in Spain, 39 years, and that, along with Malaga, Almeria is the province that grows more annually in Andalusia. “We are the youngest province in Spain. We have the obligation, with these possibilities, to channel and make available to everyone the necessary opportunities, with the example of our most recent ancestors from whom we have learned how to build something from nothing, to bring that potential and to continue living the Almeria dream,” said the president of the Provincial Council. Likewise, the president said that “in Almeria we are facing this phenomenon in a positive way by working for repopulation, creating opportunities and looking for solutions. ”
Opportunities and solutions
For his part, Manuel Campo Vidal stressed that “the province of Almería is very much alive”, and referred to the attendees as fundamental actors “in whose hands lies the key to tackling the rural exodus”, and pointed out two key elements in terms of depopulation, such as the improvement of communications and the suitability of implementing measures at all levels to encourage entrepreneurs to take on the challenge. On the other hand, Campo Vidal, has recognized “the possibilities of hatching of the province of Almeria. In this regard, Campo Vidal stressed that “we must have a provincial project, a project for each locality, and so on. You in Almería have shown that this can be done. ”
The day, which has been broadcast live via streaming through the social networks of the Diputación de Almería, ended with an open dialogue between all participants.