The changing climate for rural development and its finance in Europe: the RISE foundation

This paper summarizes the internal and external challenges, aims and strategies underpinning the Fischler reform. It describes in some detail the main challenges we face: environmental degradation, potential food scarcity, and financing stringency. It reaches some unusual conclusions such as: the New CAP must give primacy to world problems and needs; the reform process must continue even if third countries do not reform their own policies; the main question is not short-term competitiveness but long-term sustainability, and how best balance food demand and supply, save energy and water, and preserve the environment all at the same time; excessive bio-fuel production boosts prices and reduces food availability with minor impact on energy dependance; when food becomes scarce, current competition among crop producers for food markets will be replaced by competition among food-importing countries for supplies with producing countries imposing export limits; dwindling public support for the CAP, needs countervailing private financing for rural development. The first such instrument is the RISE Foundation just launched to promote Rural Investment Support for Europe.