Biodiversity Foundation Project: Sustainable rural development through street vending cooperatives

Rural depopulation has a negative impact not only on economic and social activity in rural areas, but also on the environment.

One of the main problems that concerns us most at COCETA is the replacement of local farmers and producers by the concentration of monopolies in the primary sector whose focus is centered on maximizing profits at the cost of environmental and social harm, such as the use of pesticides, genetically modified seeds, and economic conditions that are difficult for workers to bear. This is in addition to the increasing import of products manufactured in relocated plants that were previously produced locally but have ceased to be produced as a result of depopulation, which has generated high environmental costs due to the dependence on fossil fuels to carry out these imports.

The project aims to promote the main economic model of the Social Economy, worker cooperatives, within a disadvantaged area, with a sustainable distribution and supply model, street vendors, with a clear objective: the sustainable and environmental development of rural areas in Spain.

Street vending has become a draw for large cities today, and in its itinerant format, it maintains its public character as a supply channel for towns at risk of depopulation, becoming a means of securing the population by bringing commercial activity closer to the local area and connecting it with the surrounding area.

The percentage of women participating in the project will be 51%, while the percentage of other priority groups (including all other groups except women) will be 75%. The percentage of beneficiaries who will start a business is 16%.

The project impacts the Natura 2000 Network.