Prof. Alexander Blandon Lopez (p), Dr JANETH Gonzalez Rubio, Magister John Alexander Blandon Castaño

The migration of young people from the countryside of the state of Tolima (Colombia) to urban areas, in a context of lack of productive linkages in agriculture, low profitability, and weak state support in rural areas, is a gradual trend responsible for the loss of generational succession, in agricultural farming, particularly among coffee producers. Tolima has 1,387,000 inhabitants, its capital is Ibague, and it is a leading agricultural producer of coffee, cocoa, rice, avocado, mango, and lemon.
According to Cordoba et al (2025) family succession in Colombia presents a significant challenge: despite 66% of current coffee farmers intending to transfer their farms, only 28,5% of newcomers enter agriculture through this route. In 2023, 1.77 million people lived in coffee households; producers averaged 54.5 years of age, 36% were older adults, and about 76% resided in rural areas.
Once, youths move to study at the university in urban areas they have the tendency of not returning to their family farms for different reason such as: few job opportunities and prevalence of informal employment in the rural areas, low quality of life and lack of basic services, grim perception of the future and personal growth and the lack of Infrastructure and communications in the rural areas amongst others. A study found that population in coffee households in Colombia will drop 20% by 2050 (Leibovich et al 2022)
The main purpose of this research is to determine the key factors driving the decline of generational succession in agricultural farming in Tolima (Colombia). The theoretical framework of the research is based on literature on internal migration (Rérat, 2016) and social capital theory (Putnam, 1993; Coleman, 1988).
In regards to the methodology, the type of research is quantitative, the scope is descriptive, correlational, and analytical, the method is deductive, and the design is non-experimental. The study is based on a convenience sample of 50 students from the University of Tolima who are enrolled in both face-to-face and distance learning programs and are originally from the rural areas of the region. The main instrument to collect the primary information is a structured questionnaire with a Likert scale in which the participants of the survey are asked to state their level of agreement with each statement about factors that influence their decision to return to the countryside and take on the generational transition after graduating. Additionally, interviews will be conducted with key informants.

Dr. Prodromos Prodromidis (p)

The paper delineates the functional economic areas (FEAs) of Greece after people's commuting patterns by algorithmically grouping localities on the basis of people's travel-to-work flows.
It also estimates the country's spatial fragmentation on the basis of the recovered formations; and compares the shapes of these formations to the regional/subregional division of Greece. To the extent the two grids diverge, there is room for better targeted policy interventions. On the whole, the paper advances our understanding regarding the diffusion of labour marker phenomena and interventions across the terrain, thus contributing to the analysis and formulation of relevant policies.

Dr. Edoardo Pizzoli (p), Dr. Salma Mhamed Hichri

The Mediterranean geographical area is an interesting case study in terms of sustainable development. This region, with its rich historical past, is home to a variety of cultural traditions and political development models, with the result that the wealth gap between neighboring regions in the Mediterranean is one of the widest in the world.
EU cooperation and trade policies, currently the most industrialized side in this area, play a key role in the regional development. The launch of the Barcelona process in 1995 was intended to bridge the previous gap, which, unlikely, increased over the subsequent 15 years, posing a serious threat to the stability in the region. According to OECD figures at the time, the forecast was that “40 million jobs must be created over the next 15 years (i.e. until 2023) in order to simply maintain unemployment at the current levels in the southern Mediterranean countries” (as highlighted in the declaration of the “Union for the Mediterranean”
created in Paris 2008).
Furthermore, as environmental data dramatically shows, climate change is also heavily affecting this area of the world: the Maghreb, the Nile Valley, the Middle east, and southern Europe countries. The increasing migration trends from southern tonorthern Mediterranean countries is a collateral phenomenon.
Is latest statistical evidence confirming the challenges to the sustainability of development in this critical area? Has the EU’s policy response been effective to date? This paper seeks to provide some evidencebased
answers to these questions.