Ecovillages for Sustainable Rural Development

Suderbyn is partnering in the project Ecovillages for Sustainable Rural Development, an initiative stemming from the EU’s Baltic Sea Strategy, particularly its Action Plan for environmentally sustainable ways of living. The Ecovillages project is part-financed by the European Union (European Regional Development Fun and European Neighborhood and Partnership Instrument).

The project aims at helping our society to get closer to nature again and to develop new ways of living together on the land in a genuinely more sustainable way. This is especially important given the climate crisis and resource shortages that we face. The ecovillage concept is an innovation offering solutions to many resource, climate and social life problems societies of the Baltic Sea Region (BSR) face.

Ecovillages are an alternative to the individualistic, consumerist and commodified systems that many urban areas represent.

The overall objective of this project is to develop more sustainable ways of living in the rural areas of the BSR by offering a toolkit for initiators and developers of ecovillages. An effective model for planning and implementation of ecovillages is also in development. The purpose is to disseminate knowledge between different communities living within the Baltic Sea Region.

The project results foster environmental sustainability simultaneously at local, national and EU levels. Through creating examples of organisations and intentional communities that are working and living in an environmentally friendly way, information and knowledge can be transferred to other locations and implemented by other organisations.