The SIEUSOIL project is in full gear. Over the last six months project partners have produced the following deliverables (public deliverables are available here):

• D1.3 Prototype of operational Eurasian soil platform
• D6.4 Report of DSS test and validation
• D7.7 Report on SIEUSOIL synthesis of methodology
• D8.2 Report on SIEUSOIL LCA of nutrient flows
• D9.4 Dissemination & Communication Report
• D9.9 Market analysis initial report

Consortium partners have also published the three following new articles in peer reviewed journals:

Yongsheng Hong, Yiyun Chen, Ruili Shen, Songchao Chen, Gang Xu, Hang Cheng, Long Guo, Zushuai Wei, Jian Yang, Yaolin Liu, Zhou Shi, Abdul M. Mouazen, Diagnosis of cadmium contamination in urban and suburban soils using visible-to-near-infrared spectroscopy, Environmental Pollution, Volume 291, 2021, 118128, ISSN 0269-7491 (access).

Chen S C, Xu H Y, Xu D Y, etc. Evaluating validation strategies on the performance of soil property prediction from regional to continental spectral data. Geoderma. 2021, 400, 15159 (access).

Mouazen, A.M.; Nyarko, F.; Qaswar, M.; Tóth, G.; Gobin, A.; Moshou, D. Spatiotemporal Prediction and Mapping of Heavy Metals at Regional Scale Using Regression Methods and Landsat 7. Remote Sens. 2021, 13, 4615 (access).

SOURCE: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2015.08.012

The European Commission released the new EU Soil Strategy for 2030, building on the European Green Deal and related policies. The EU soil strategy elaborates on The Biodiversity Strategy for 2020 and Farm to Fork Strategy to create a new vision for soil, in relevance to the reduction of nutrient losses and the decreased use of chemical pesticides. The Climate Adaptation Strategy has highlighted the importance of healthy soils to the impacts of extreme weather phenomena, whilst the Zero Pollution Action Plan has highlighted the significance of preventing contamination. The EU soil strategy calls for protection measures for soils respective to the ones defined for air and water.

Soils host more than a quarter of the planet’s biodiversity and are the largest terrestrial carbon pool. To this end, protecting and improving soil health in the EU is also essential in addressing global challenges including climate mitigation/adaptation, protecting biodiversity and preserving water resources. The goal to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 can only be succeeded by Carbon removal through restoration and better management of soils. The main Objective of the Strategy is to allow soil to deliver its essential services and act as a key enabler to achieve Green Deal objectives

The Strategy is an important initiative undertaken by the Commission, as currently there is no legislation dedicated to soil to address transboundary impacts of soil degradation or monitoring. In view of the Strategy’s crucial role, promoting carbon farming practices was incorporated in the Communication on Sustainable Carbon Cycles, Highlighting Carbon Removal Objectives released mid-December 2021. Additionally, the European Commission is going to present a legislative proposal on Soil Health Law by 2023.

The key actions outlined in the Soil Strategy for 2030 include the following:

• Making sustainable soil management the new normal, by proposing a scheme for land owners to get their soils tested for free, promoting sustainable soil management through the CAP and sharing best practices.
• Considering proposing legally binding objectives to limit  drainage of wetlands and organic soils and to restore managed and drained peatlands to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
• Investigating streams of excavated soils and assessing the need and potential for a legally binding “soil passport” to boost circular the economy and enhance reuse of clean soil.
• Restoring degraded soils and remediating contaminated sites.
• Preventing desertification by developing a common methodology to assess desertification and land degradation.
• Increasing research, data and monitoring on soil.
• Mobilising the necessary societal engagement and financial resources.

Reaping the benefits of healthy soils for people, the Soil Strategy is important for:

Land users who will gain better knowledge of soil, achieve long term farm viability and food security, get funded to test the initiative and engage in Carbon farming and innovative business models.

Citizens who will enjoy a more sustainable future with healthy soils, a decline in biodiversity loss and climate mitigation.

Industry & economic operators that will secure level playing field, legal certainty on liabilities for soil contamination and assure a sustainable supply of raw materials.

Public Authorities that will ensure a clear legal framework and targets across the EU, reduced costs of remediation actions, citizens support and improved governance.

Healthy soils are essential for achieving climate neutrality, a clean and circular economy, reversing biodiversity loss, providing healthy food, safeguarding human health, and halting desertification and land degradation. Soil Strategy aspires to empower the objectives of good soil health to be achieved across the EU by 2050.

The state of the world’s land and water resources for food and agriculture:
Systems at breaking point (SOLAW 2021)

Satisfying the changing food habits and increased demand for food intensifies pressure on the world’s water, land and soil resources. A recent UN report by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) points out that the world’s farms are at a “breaking point”, emphasizing that soils are being eroded and degraded.

It also highlights that the “treatment of soils with inorganic fertilizers to increase or sustain yields has had significant adverse effects on soil health” as well as that the“wiser” use of soils could result in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions that are being emitted by global agriculture.

SOLAW 2021 attempts to build awareness of the status of land and water resources by highlighting relative risks and informing on related opportunities and challenges. It also underlines the essential contribution of appropriate policies, institutions, and investments.

The SIEUSOIL consortium is formed by a multi-disciplinary international team of experts from 23 institutions in Europe and China, specializing on conservation agriculture, soil science, environmental engineering, data and process modelling, LCA, semantics-based data harmonization, remote sensing, IoT, sensors and data fusion, DSS, machine learning and deep learning. Our team will be more than happy to answer to your questions or provide more info on the project.

Project Coordinator: Professor Dimitrios Moshou dmoshou@auth.gr