Various sectoral policies and German regional planning policy set out that rural areas should develop sustainably. However, apart from taking ecological, economic and social aspects into account, it remains more or less vague which normative orientations may be linked to sustainable rural development.
Accordingly, conflicts of interests and objectives remain vague
along with the limits of integration required on different levels. In this article, the situation described is regarded to be “the challenge of sustainability”. An analysis of rural development policies is carried out against the background of a critical, emancipatory understanding of sustainability which was developed by the junior research group PoNa - Shaping Nature: Policy, Politics and Polity. In doing so, the junior research group demonstrates that and how sustainable
development is a component of rural area policies. In particular, it is the concept of multifunctional agriculture and the approach of integrated rural development which may demonstrate that policymaking for rural areas provides possibilities for sustainable development options. This article uses the example of agri-environmental measures for an initial application of the critical, emancipatory understanding of sustainability. Finally the question arises which challenges are implied by a consistent reorientation towards sustainability for policymaking and scientific research.