SHENA (Soil Health Network Austria) - Austria’s Integrated Pathway towards a harmonized, digital and future ‑ ready Soil Health Governance System

Austria faces accelerating soil degradation driven by land take, erosion on agricultural land, declining soil organic matter, diffuse contamination and fragmented governance across federal, regional and municipal levels. Although Austria possesses extensive soil expertise, diverse monitoring initiatives and rich datasets, these resources remain dispersed across institutions and incompatible systems. The EU Soil Monitoring Law (SML) and the EU Soil Strategy for 2030 require Austria to make a transition from the fragmented landscape toward a harmonized, interoperable and policy‑relevant soil governance framework. The SHENA - Soil Health Network Austria - initiative provides a comprehensive national response by integrating governance, digital innovation, monitoring and capacity building into a unified soil‑health architecture.

The project establishes a national Soil Health Steering Committee representing all nine federal states and two ministries, creating an innovative cross‑sectoral governance structure for soil health. This committee coordinates institutional expertise from agencies, research institutions, agricultural chambers and regional authorities, ensuring strategic alignment and preparing Austria for EU‑level reporting obligations. SHENA simultaneously develops a digital Soil Knowledge and Networking Platform that consolidates at least ten existing databases (eBOD, BORIS, LUCASSA, ABOD.at and others), integrates 500+ resources and enables multi‑actor engagement through interactive tools, expert directories and knowledge exchange formats.

A central methodological contribution is the development of a harmonized soil monitoring roadmap that defines ten core indicators aligned with European Soil Data Centre (ESDAC), Copernicus and Soil Mission standards. This roadmap builds on different projects (e.g. SoMONA, Bosporus)and Austria’s existing GIS infrastructures, improving data accessibility from ~10% to 50% by 2029 and to 70% by 2034. It provides a structured pathway for integrating heterogeneous datasets, reducing redundancy and enabling consistent national reporting to the EU Soil Observatory.

To strengthen societal uptake, SHENA trains 120 Soil Ambassadors - municipal officers, farmers, educators, planners and soil entusiasts - who act as multipliers for soil literacy, sustainable land management and local implementation. Their outreach activities, combined with targeted policy engagement, contribute to reducing areas of poor soil health, improving habitat management across 200 ha and enhancing carbon sequestration capacities.

Finally, SHENA embeds Austria within a broader European knowledge ecosystem through seven bilateral workshops with Germany, Switzerland, Slovenia and the Czech Republic, culminating in a jointly endorsed position paper on cross‑border soil governance.

Together, these actions demonstrate how Austria can operationalize harmonized soil metrics, digital infrastructures and multi‑actor engagement to build a coherent, future‑oriented soil governance system aligned with EU ambitions.