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Editorial 9 nological paradigm shift is not the first, looking at the history of economic thought in the 19 th century and the future it predicted to show that we cannot “ predict the unpredictable ”. The author states that various “ institutional devices such as labour laws, trade unions and collective bargaining ” were deci- sive in avoiding certain more pessimistic predictions from becoming reality, concluding that “ technology in itself is not decisive … its impacts depend on the institutional context ”, which in turn “ depend on polit- ical choices ”. Cultivar issue 11 – Population and rural territory. March 2018, p. 13 6 This is a polarising topic within public debate, because attempts are made to find a single and pref- erably unique cause (poor forestry planning, depop- ulation, emigration, lack of facilities, closure of pub- lic services, land tenure structure, etc.) and one neat and tidy solution (indigenous-species forests, higher investment in the interior, replacement of services and facilities, decentralisation/regionalisation, etc.) for an extremely complex problem. This issue of Cultivar takes an approach which delves into the his- torical origins that explain and restrict current rural territorial organisation and aims at a demographic and socioeconomic analysis that may contribute to identifying solutions to planning problems that have emerged in rural areas, together with new risks asso- ciated with climate change. The topic is fully addressed by João Ferrão in an article which begins by warning that rural areas have never been homogeneous, and that popula- tion changes have been affected by the relations between the three vertices of the ecology-commu- nity-economy triangle. The author stresses that depopulation is the rule in most rural municipalities and considers the idea that it is possible to reverse this demographic loss in every rural area a miscon- ceived political message, stressing that “ right of place ” must be given equal importance as “ right of 6 https://www.gpp.pt/images/GPP/O_que_disponibilizamos/Publicacoes/CULTIVAR_11/#14 7 https://www.gpp.pt/images/GPP/O_que_disponibilizamos/Publicacoes/CULTIVAR_12/40/ 8 https://www.gpp.pt/images/GPP/O_que_disponibilizamos/Publicacoes/CULTIVAR_19/#34 mobility ”. He also notes that there is no single solu- tion. Public policies must avoid (where it has yet to occur), resist (where it can be reversed) and manage depopulation (where it cannot be stopped). Cultivar issue 12 – Climate change. June 2018, p. 39 7 Climate change is an increasingly unavoidable topic when discussing the future of agriculture and forestry, since the sector isbothhighly vulnerable to its impacts and a contributor to emissions. It is essential to find innovative solutions to offset and mitigate emissions and to discover new management practices. These should include raising efficiency, producing more with less, reducing waste and implementing new forms of decarbonisation. This “accounting” should correspond to an overall assessment. Hervé Guyomard and his team at the French Insti- tut national de la recherche agronomique (INRA) address the best way to take into account envi- ronmental protection in the post-2020 CAP while preserving competitiveness. They discuss how the CAP has dealt with environmental concerns over the years and note that, to a certain extent, the reform process will be incomplete if these concerns are not fully incorporated. They propose solutions to improve current instruments and capitalise on exist- ing opportunities, based on incentives to supply environmental services rather than on the fulfilment of a regulatory set of individual obligations, pitting services against disservices. Cultivar issue 19 – Macroeconomics and agriculture. April 2020, p. 33 8 As an economic sector (the first of 99 into which the Portuguese economy is currently divided in the national accounts), agriculture is important for the country’s economic framework. It accounts for 1.5% of GDP but it is the basis of the agroforestry chain (from the primary sector to services) that generates 10% of GDP and 15% of exports. Portugal has a struc-