Please note that this session was withdrawn and is no longer available in the respective programme. This withdrawal might have been the result of a merge with another session.
ITS3.19/SSS0.1.2 | Soil health and soil degradation in the EU, international and national research and development programs and living labs at a global scale
EDI
Soil health and soil degradation in the EU, international and national research and development programs and living labs at a global scale
Convener: Sergio Saia | Co-conveners: Ahlem Tlili, Calogero Schillaci, Vanessa Wong, Claudio Zucca
Soil health is a multifaced concept considering soil capacity and functionality towards a wide range of ecosystem services. The soil health concept directly relates to soil degradation that can viewed as a reduction of soil health involving, e.g., soil loss through erosion, decline in soil organic matter, water and nutrient retention ability, damage to the soil structure, contamination, and soil fertility.

Several measures to support soil health and tackle soil degradation have been proposed in the scientific literature, along with several indicators to monitor expected benefits. The need for standardized data covering the broad concept of soil health and degradation is arising, along with the lack of information on relationships between soil quality and agriculture, forest and grassland resilience, and the socio-economic and environmental impacts of these measures.

The scattered data availability and their complex integration for agronomic or environmental management and policy decisions may partly be covered by many European and other international or national initiatives in the frameworks of the H2020, Horizon Europe, PRIMA, FAO programs, and other programs.

This session aims to collect contributions that embrace Soil Research and Monitoring, Sustainable Farming Practices, Policy and Regulations. In particular, we aim to collect the contribution of national and international initiatives addressing soil health and soil degradation and their relationship with agriculture, forestry, and pasture management, and the economic aspects of these systems at various scales (from the field to the landscape, to the region to the global scale).

We aim to establish a forum to foster collaboration among projects to support soil health, the resilience of agriculture and other land uses, and biodiversity in rural areas while taking into account social, economic and environmental sustainability.