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Various frameworks for assessing sustainability in agriculture have emerged in recent years. We analysed how sustainability is framed as a governing concept for agriculture within three such frameworks. The results suggest that in all three frameworks sustainability is perceived as a fixed, definable end goal, rather than a process, and its assumed that if all stake holders understand each other and are informed about the negative impacts of agriculture, sustainability will be achieved. The characteristics of the assessment frameworks, which are primarily developed by and based on expert knowledge, provide limited possibilities for farmers to influence how sustainable agriculture is framed and acted upon, limiting the utility of the frameworks. A number of challenges that need to be solved for successful implementation were uncovered, including how assessment frameworks should be used in practice and identification of conflicts between different goals in relation to assessment results.

Interest in green infrastructure (GI) has grown in research, policy and planning in recent decades. The central idea behind GI is the understanding of the physical non-built-up environment as an infrastructure capable of delivering a wide variety of benefits to society, including the ability to preserve biodiversity; to provide food, feed, fuel and fibre; to adapt to and mitigate climate change and to contribute to enhanced human health and quality of life. The European Union (EU) has had a GI strategy since 2013, and member states are involved in several strategic and applied GI initiatives and projects. The aim of this study is to explore if and how the European strategy has been implemented. The study adds to the body of knowledge of current GI policies and measures in Europe via an online survey and insights into previous research. The survey reveals that GI is integrated into one or more policy sectors in all 32 countries covered. In 11 of the 32 countries, GI-specific policies are already in place or are being drawn up at a national level. In general, the respondents see the responsibility for GI policy and strategy as a matter of national governments and the implementation as a matter of local governments. They also see the LIFE+ and Horizon 2020 project funds, the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), as the most important EU funding sources for the implementation of the GI strategy. The study also identifies availability of georeferenced information, zoning and biotope area factor as three of the spatial planning tools used to implement GI.

The objective of this knowledge overview of the project “Service provision and access to services in Nordic rural areas – secure, trusted and for all ages” is to analyse how essential service needs for different types of societal groups and ruralities can be understood and defined, and how solutions to rural service provision challenges can be organised.

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It has repeatedly been shown that the Nordic countries are strongest when they stand togetherPREFACE 25