Abstract:

The aim of the article is to identify public support for investments in the field of adaptation and mitigation of climate change in rural areas and to assess the scale and effects of this support in the spatial context. The study was based on the data set of the Agency for Restructuring and Modernization of Agriculture. The analysis covered programs directly supporting environmental and climate measures in rural areas in Poland, implemented under the Rural Development Program for 2014-2020. The results indicate that the measures adopted in Poland in the field of the environment and climate change mitigation and adaptation in a comprehensive and complementary manner may contribute to the improvement of farmers' resilience to climate change and to counteracting it. The need to support environmental and climate initiatives in rural Poland is high. Consumption of programs supporting environmental measures and counteracting climate change and the scale of their co-financing varies regionally and depends on the spatial context. The conducted analysis fills the gap in the research in the scope of the assessment of subsidization of environmental and climate measures in agriculture. Our discoveries contribute to contemporary debates on the effectiveness of public support for this type of investment and the need to continue it. In the era of rapidly advancing climate change, decision-makers from many EU countries will have to face the dilemma of the urgency of implementing individual environmental and climate measures and seeking synergies with other measures ensuring the development of agriculture and rural areas.