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The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is a European Union (EU) policy aimed at supporting farmers, guaranteeing food security, and promoting sustainable rural development, which has undergone numerous reforms to adapt to the needs of the agricultural sector and society in general. The main objective of this work is to statistically analyse CAP aid in southwest Spain, specifically in Extremadura, a region characterised by areas at risk of depopulation and deep rural areas, during the last two periods of European aid (2007–2013 and 2014–2020). In this study, by means of principal component analysis (PCA), agricultural, economic, and demographic variables were interrelated, together with geographic information systems (GIS), to evaluate their impact on the development of the regional agricultural sector. This methodology will help to identify areas with improvements in their territorial structures and can therefore serve as a basis for their application in other European territories. Through the analysis, we identified areas where the interrelation of the variables showed improvements in their demographic, social, and economic structures, with the municipalities of populations over 10,000 inhabitants in Extremadura being the ones that compose the territorial substructure A. Therefore, this work shows how European agricultural aid can disproportionately favour the most dynamic territories and leave the less developed regions at a disadvantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is a European policy created in the early 1960s to address the food and economic problems affecting European society and the agricultural sector in particular. Throughout its history, the various reforms carried out in this policy have oriented it towards a reduction of direct aid to farmers' production (due to its excessive cost, among other reasons), in favor of income-related aid. In recent years, the agricultural sector in Extremadura has received CAP aid in a very unequal manner, with a more significant concentration in the agricultural areas where intensive production has been established as a base and where there is a larger population. Thus, the main objective of this research is to analyze the spatial relationships between CAP subsidies and other demographic, economic and social context variables. To achieve the proposed objective, a spatial regression model, namely Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR), has been calculated to determine the relationship between the amounts received from the CAP and the socioeconomic situation of each of the municipalities in the region. The results show a concentration of this aid in the most dynamic areas, with municipalities with a larger population and a more productive agriculture, mainly related to irrigated farms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the middle of the last century, the Spanish tourism sector has experienced significant growth, which was interrupted by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. This situation had a considerable impact on Spain, as the country is a leading world tourism destination and relies heavily on this sector in its economy, making it vulnerable when demand for tourism services declines. The tourism model in Spain is not homogeneous, and the Mediterranean coastal regions and island areas are highly dependent on tourism as a main source of economic income and were particularly affected by the consequences of the pandemic. This study analyzes the impact of the pandemic on the tourism sector in each Spanish autonomous community, focusing on tourism demand through the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The results reveal the disparity and vulnerability of Spanish regions to the tourism crisis. The most tourist-dependent areas dependent on international tourism have experienced a decline due to restrictions and a fall in demand. On the other hand, rural regions that depend mainly on national tourism have suffered fewer effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Boletín de la Asociación de Geógrafos Españoles is the property of Asociacion de Geografos Espanoles and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The municipalities of Cantabria have undergone important demographic changes in recent years, with the result that the population is heterogeneously distributed throughout the territory. This distribution is influenced by the territorial vulnerability, based on demographic and socio-economic variables, which will be analysed in this paper due to the scarce research that currently exists in this area. To this end, a bibliographic search on the subject will be carried out, alphanumeric and cartographic data will be compiled on a municipal and population centre scales and the Moran's indexes will be calculated using Geographic Information Systems. Analysing the results obtained from tables and cartographic representations, it can be seen that the vulnerability of Cantabria is concentrated in the most rural and ageing municipalities, with the most developed ones having an almost non-existent vulnerability. Despite this, there are variables which should be highlighted, as they invert the results, giving vulnerability to the most populated municipalities and making the rural ones acquire favourable characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the end of the 20th century, tourism was positioned as an activity capable of diversifying and reactivating the economies of rural European areas, which were experiencing problems of demographic regression and a high rate of ageing. Subsequently, with the emergence and promotion of new models of tourism consumption, the provision of rural tourism facilities has increased, as is the case in the north of Extremadura. This study analyzes, through the use of a descriptive and analytical method, the distribution of the demographic, socioeconomic and heritage variables existing in the tourist territory of the Valle del Jerte-La Vera region in order to interrelate them with the tourist supply and demand in this area. The results allow us to observe that Valle del Jerte-La Vera is promoting tourist activities, with the promotion and implementation of better lines of action for the reception of travelers, in such a way that they favor the increase in the economic income, and these factors are capable to maintain the existing population, thus facilitating the development of rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For more than 30 years, the LEADER approach has been a key tool in the endogenous, local, participatory, and sustainable development of the most disadvantaged European rural areas in demographic and socioeconomic terms. However, despite the unquestionable labor of the rural development policy and the local action groups, various authors, both at a European level and at a national level, in Spain, have concluded that the majority of investments and the greater number of projects through LEADER have been concentrated in the most populated and most developed rural areas. For this reason, there is positive discrimination toward them in the management of aid for rural development. Knowing this and according to the objectives pursued by LEADER, the aim of this work is to analyze the situation in Extremadura (Spain), which has been a beneficiary from the beginning, building an optimal location model for rural development aid. Thus, it will be possible to determine the most convenient, optimal, or priority municipalities to receive aid for rural development due to characteristics such as a smaller population, low demographic growth, low birth rate, high mortality rate, high aging population, low productivity index, high unemployment rates, low accessibility to urban centers, and low LEADER investments in recent years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Boletín de la Asociación de Geógrafos Españoles is the property of Asociacion de Geografos Espanoles and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista de Estudios Andaluces is the property of Revista de Estudios Andaluces and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Cuadernos de Turismo is the property of Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Murcia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Throughout the history of the European Rural Development Policy and the LEADER (Liaisons entre activitiés de Developement de L'Economie Rural) Approach, the Regulation that heads them has experienced changes in order to provide greater support for the development of the most disadvantaged European rural areas. Currently, the EAFRD (European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development) finances this aid, which is immersed the Programming Period 2014-2020 with certain changes compared to the previous one. Thus, this paper intends to analyze the role of LEADER in the current Programming Period and to know how the territorial distribution of it is. It will be possible to see how there are differences in the operation of the LEADER Approach and how demographic and socioeconomic variables continue to act as location factors of rural development investments in Extremadura. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1990s, a series of rural development aid programs (LEADER Approach) has been implemented in European rural areas, including Extremadura, in order to solve the demographic, social, and economic problems that rural areas experience. The main objective of these programs is to diversify the economy to reverse these problems. The purpose of this present paper is to study the distribution of the investments committed during the period of 2000-2013 in Extremadura according to the geolocation and to perform the analysis of clusters through Local Moran's I, Getis-Ord Gi*, and Kernel Density in order to determine whether the results are related to the demographic and economic behavior of each territory of action and if these act as location factors for investments. We found that most dynamic towns receive more investments, leaving out the more physically, economically, and demographically disadvantaged ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For 25 years the rural development policy has been implemented through the LEADER Approach in the EU to reduce differences between rural and urban areas, as well as to satisfy the basic needs of the population. In this paper, Extremadura is analysed, which is a Spanish region where LEADER has been applied since its inception in 1991. The objective is to assess if the distribution of rural development aids has been influenced by the diverse demographic and socioeconomic realities that Extremadura presents from the analysis of variables that represent these realities on the territory through a GIS. Following this methodology, it has been noticed that the largest investments have been executed in the most developed rural areas of the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the past 25 years, it has been applied in Europe's rural areas, and especially in Extremadura, territorial strategies through the LEADER Method in order to enable their economic development. This is by means of implementation of new activities as Rural Tourism is. The objective is to keep the population and slowing emigration processes and aging. In this paper, the evolution of aids to Rural Tourism is studied, as well as its regional implementation with context indicators, such as investments and projects by area and population of Local Action Groups. Moreover, other socioeconomic and demographic variables are studied to verify the success of its initial objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last 25 years, a number of regional strategies are being applied in European rural areas, particularly in Extremadura. The aim of these territorial strategies is to activate the economic development of rural areas and reduce their differences with urban ones through economic diversification of the area of action with the implementation of co-financed projects by European funds, national administrations and local population. These aids are known as "Leader Method". In this paper, the rural development aids during the last programming period (2007-2013) in Extremadura are studied, respect to their distribution and management. This is through the Principal Component Analysis and Geographic Information Systems. It is studied the correlation between the variables that represent the different realities of the region: physical, demographic, socio-economic and those concern rural development aids. With this, the management of the aid will be determined and represented in the territorial model. It has become evident that these aids are benefiting the most dynamic areas and the more established sectors of the region. Furthermore, in other more depressed areas, the development of tourism and the rehabilitation of degraded historical and natural heritage are being carried out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the 90s to the present day, Rural Policies called LEADER Method have been put in place in the European rural areas (Initiatives LEADER and PRODER are also included). Its objective is to activate the development in rural areas, in particular the rural areas of Extremadura, and to reduce as much as possible their socioeconomic differences in urban areas. In this study, it aims to study the implementation of this LEADER Method in the territory of Extremadura, observing the evolution and showing different qualitative and quantitative results and checking if the Rural Policies have contributed to reduce demographic and socioeconomic differences between rural and urban areas, the main objective of these policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, the demographic vacuum and poor development suffered by most areas of Spain are some of the most worrying issues from a territorial point of view, which is why this study is necessary. In this paper, the objective is to create a Development Index with which to study the different realities of rural and urban spaces through demographic and socioeconomic variables of the Spanish municipalities. Principal Component Analysis is carried out, with whose results the index has been prepared. This is then explored with a Spatial Autocorrelation Analysis. The results show that most developed Spanish municipalities and most of the population are concentrated in coastal areas and in the main cities of the country. In opposition, there are interior rural areas with less developed municipalities at risk of disappearance due to their increasing ages and levels of depopulation. Thus, in this paper, new variables and methods are used in the study of the social and economic diversity of rural and urban areas, verifying the inequality that still exists between both. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rural–urban dichotomy is one of the most debated topics by the scientific community in territorial issues. In addition, many public entities and scientific studies have established the distinctive elements of rural and urban spaces by relating the decline of the rural ones with factors such as aging, low birthrate, the primary sector, unemployment, or poverty, among others. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to spatially study the current model of territorial organization of Spanish urban and rural municipalities as well as their demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. To this end, GIS (Geographic Information System) tools were used to carry out a spatial autocorrelation (SA) analysis and to identify homogeneous groups of the variables considered. In conclusion, there are different demographic and socioeconomic realities in Spain, an urban one located on the coast with a positive situation and, on the other hand, a regressive reality composed of rural municipalities, among which there are villages whose situation is worrying, mainly located in the north of Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the end of the last century, the Rural Development Policy and the associated Rural Development Aid have been implemented (according to the LEADER Approach) in European rural areas as a model of endogenous, integrated, and innovative development. Its objective is to reduce the differences of development in these areas. The objective of this paper is to analyze statistically (using Principal Component Analysis) the investments and projects carried out during the period of 2007–2013 in the regions of Extremadura and Alentejo. These two border regions have many territorial similarities but also historical, cultural, and political differences. These variations may contribute to a different implementation of the LEADER Approach. As determined by the results from the statistical analysis of economic aids and demographic variables, it is evident that there are differences in the management of the Rural Development Aid in both territories but resemblances in the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]