Dealing with rural areas in the Global South must be a central concern of geographical development research in the 21st century. Major challenges for the global community, such as the unsolved energy and food questions, the migration of people and increasing natural hazards as a result of climate change processes, are fundamentally linked with rural areas. Most natural resources - biotic and abiotic - are located in the rural environment, which provides land for the production of energy, raw materials and foods, as well as for various constructions, communication lines and production units. The rural environment is also the main source area for people migrating to cities or abroad to improve their living conditions or ensure survival, and it is closely linked with processes of climate change both as an amplifying and mitigating factor and as susceptible to its effects. To underestimate the relevance of the rural in academia or politics is dangerous and irresponsible.