"Urban agriculture is only a complementary to the rural agriculture, however it is necessary for food and agriculture literacy" - states Dr. Joe Nasr. In his opinion, Urban Agriculture will remain only as an additional food supplier with its main function of supporting biodiversity of species, rather than be a main food source. He has worked on the topic of Urban Agriculture for over 2 decades and described major challenges and alternatives to the agro-industrial system in his leading presentation of the Oral Presentation Session "Development within the Rural-urban Continuum". more "Change in consumption preferences, increasing local production, adoption of vegetarianism and switching to organic agriculture - these should be in a top priority for all of us" - says Dr. Nasr. Particularly in urban agriculture, Joe Nasr supports scaling-up aquaponic and hydroponic systems as an important element in order to become more successful in the future. Participant from Sudan asked Dr. Nasr about an option for his house with 1 ha of land and low investment in order to become a role model in the area. In the answer, Joe Nasr stressed on using knowledge. He said, that it’s not only about money. Many people that have needed capital face problems by using wrong seeds, unsustainable water usage and simply being not ready to devote a great spare of time for maintaining urban agriculture site. After the leading paper, other young researchers were given a chance to present their own work. Taisser H.H. Deafalla from Sudan impressed audience with socio-economics data on Demographic Change in Semi-Arid Region. Low income, lack of opportunities and high rate of migration occurs among young people between 24-32. Interestingly, 80% of emigrants are male. In the private interview, Taisser said that huge Gender Inequality exists in Sudan, which has also made process of collecting data extremely challenging, since women were afraid to share information.

Tears on the eyes of Taisser during her presentation would add crudeness to the following figures: 38 USD/month per household was said to be an average income level for majority in Sudan; 80% of households in 2012 had to survive on 1 meal per a day; sudanese government does not support policy making process any more. She would stress on importance of forest and possibility to alleviate poverty through sustainable usage of forest.

Another presentation was held by PhD student from Vietnam Nguten Thi Hong Mai. Her topic about forest usage in uplands of Vietnam would show preferences among two major ethnic groups: Kihn and Paco. Kihn communities tend to connect forest to the culture and replant the are with acacia, whereas Paco people are approaching more conservative approach of using the are as a crop land. The problem is that replanted crop species as coffee are low on production. Whereas, replanted tree specie of Cassava and Acacia will still be a possible source of income.