ENVIRONMENTAL CITIZENSHIP - A KEY ASPECT IN APPROACHING ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES FROM RURAL AREAS.

Environmental Citizenship is a key factor in EU's growth strategy (Europe 2020) and its vision for Sustainable Development and Green and Circular economy. It is widely agreed that significant behavior change amongst both individuals and organizations is required in order to meet Europe's sustainability objectives and climate change targets. While Europe has undoubtedly made progress in preserving and enhancing its rural ecosystems and semi-natural systems in certain rural areas, continued overall loss of natural capital is jeopardizing efforts to attain biodiversity and climate objectives. Many of today's environmental challenges from rural areas are characterized by complexity. They are difficult to delineate or define clearly as they pervade different parts of the environment and rural society in various ways. Thus, they are often perceived differently by different groups in society and at different geographical scales. Moreover, environmental attitudes and behavior characterizes and influence our production and consumption choices and therefore affect largely our rural environmental impacts. Thus, environmental citizenship is recognized as an important aspect in addressing global environmental problems such as climate change. This paper will analyze several aspects of environmental citizenship concept which are considered as key aspects in approaching environmental challenges from rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]