The rural environment It is a geographic space with a low number of inhabitants, in which economic activities are mainly focused on the collection, extraction or transformation of natural resources.
The term rural is difficult to define in academia, which is why it is usually done following different parameters. The two most commonly used are population density and the economic activities that characterize it..
Another way of defining it is usually by contrasting it with the urban environment, which is characterized by having a high population, generally greater than 3 thousand inhabitants, and may even have millions.
In the same way, in the urban environment the economic activities of the secondary and tertiary sectors prevail (industries, trade in goods and services, among others)..
In this way, the rural environment is any space that has a very small population, and whose economic activities and ways of life are adapted to the environmental conditions, before which the population is directly confronted.
The two most common economic activities carried out in rural areas are agriculture and livestock..
For this reason, it is characteristic that the rural landscape is natural in a high percentage, so that it can thus accommodate the activities and processes of sowing and cultivating the land, and animal husbandry..
The rural environment is also composed, in a high percentage, by plants and vegetation of different types. Characteristically, it is to a much greater extent than in urban areas.
On the other hand, this environment is also the habitat in which wild animals of different species live, as well as domesticated animals..
It is also common to find sources of natural resources in rural areas, such as gold, oil, silver, among others, although their discovery usually encourages the growth of the population around where these resources are found..
It is characteristic of rural areas to have a low number of inhabitants.
The average measure in different countries to classify a population as rural or not is two thousand inhabitants, being rural areas those that do not reach that number.
However, this varies according to each legislation, so this number can increase to three thousand, four thousand or five thousand inhabitants.
On the other hand, according to the population dispersion within rural areas, these can be classified into two types: dispersed rural areas, and nucleated rural areas..
The dispersed are those that have a number equal to or less than 30 inhabitants per square kilometer.
Nucleated are those that have a number equal to or greater than 60 inhabitants per square kilometer.
Sometimes a specific rural environment may be protected under the laws of a country as part of a government measure for the conservation of the elements found within it. These laws can regulate the access and use of these areas.
The elements of the rural environment legally regulated can be cultural (indigenous communities or historical heritage), geographical (certain types of flora or fauna) or economic (mineral reserves, tourism areas or eco-tourism).
In rural populations, due to the lower demand for properties, goods and services, the prices related to these products are usually lower than those in urban areas.
Some types of pollution, such as the emission of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and smog, are higher in urban areas due to the large number of vehicles and industrial activity that is generated in them.
The low population of rural areas helps their environment have lower levels of contamination.
The production and collection of raw materials in rural areas tends to take place at a family rather than a business level..
This means that the workforce is provided mainly by the owner families, rather than by externally employed workers..
Generally, rural families depend directly or indirectly on the natural resources found in the area in which they live..
In general, production activities carried out in rural areas do not use machinery of the same scope or level of sophistication as those used by agricultural companies in more urban sectors, although this characteristic is not exclusive in some cases. specific.
As the economic activity that takes place in this environment is familiar, the means used are usually more rudimentary, and the level of production much lower than the business.
A common characteristic of the rural environment is that all the activities within it are built on the basis of its resources..
That is why these communities are usually relatively integrated, in the sense that the different daily aspects, such as the political, social, economic and religious, are intimately related.
In the same way, the inhabitants of the rural environment identify and develop a sense of belonging close to it..
Rural tourism is a type of tourism that takes place only in virgin natural sites or very little modified by man, which is why in some rural areas eco-tourism can occur as an activity.
The objective of rural tourism is to offer an alternative activity to mass tourism with a much lower negative impact on the environment..
Therefore, this type of tourism seeks to obtain resources by offering an experience to the visitor in which they become more directly involved with the environment..
In this way, it is intended to teach a more responsible way of taking advantage of natural spaces.
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