Soil is a mostly overlooked, yet indispensable ally for the achievement of climate resilience (CR): healthy & living soils provide & support ecosystem services, improve biodiversity, mitigate CC effects on society & the environment, & support healthy living conditions.
EU wide legislation as EU Soil Monitoring & Resilience Directive, Soil Strategy 2030, Action Plan of the Alpine Convention Soil Protection Working Group (AC-SWG) or EUSALP AG6/7 activities show the urgency of soil action. It is particularly needed in mountain areas where soil & space are especially scarce & threatened. For these frameworks, the governance level for integrated, cross-sectoral implementation of sustainable soil management (SSM) is the level of municipalities. Together with multipliers, they are key target group to trigger SSM & change governance & stewardship for local socio-environmental breakthroughs.
A vast amount of knowledge exists, yet scattered, not yet streamlined & adapted to the use in spatial planning practices. The challenge is to transfer existing Know-How into concrete & comparable Do-How, followed by a change of standard practices & replication activities. SOIL:OurInvisibleAlly (SOIL) will strive to provide & distribute Alpine-wide SSM solutions through:
- Compiling a selection of tangible, established best practice examples of Alpine SSM
- Streamline Do-How for municipalities & others, motivating them to apply the new SSM in joint case-studies
- Spreading & embedding a new SSM-culture & enhancing soil policies through diverse & innovative communication means, arts and culture.
The consortium is ideally composed, representing researchers, landowners, municipal & regional players & dissemination platforms, throughout the Alpine region.
The result is a significant increase in awareness & readiness levels in municipalities & affiliated stakeholders, the status of soil preservation & protection, as well as local SSM practices & policies for CC mitigation & adaptation.
Project ID
Funding period
1 September 2024 - 31 August 2027Total budget
EU contribution
Funding programme
Call for proposals
Type of stakeholder
Project contribution to Mission Soil’s:
Specific objectives
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1. Reduce land degradation relating to desertification
Not targeted -
2. Conserve and increase soil organic carbon stocks
Not targeted -
3. No net soil sealing and increase the reuse of urban soils
Not targeted -
4. Reduce soil pollution and enhance restoration
Not targeted -
5. Prevent erosion
Not targeted -
6. Improve soil structure to enhance habitat quality for soil biota and crops
Targeted -
7. Reduce the EU global footprint on soils
Not targeted -
8. Increase soil literacy in society across Member States
Partially targeted
Operational objectives
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1. Build capacities and the knowledge base for soil stewardship
Targeted
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2. Co-create and upscale place-based innovations to improve soil health in all places
Partially targeted
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3. Develop an integrated EU soil monitoring system and track progress towards soil health
Not targeted
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4. Engage with the soil user community and society at large
Not targeted
Innovation hotspots
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1. Carbon farming
Targeted
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2. Soil pollution and restoration
Not targeted
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3. Soil biodiversity including the microbiome
Not targeted
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4. Circular economy solutions
Not targeted
Cross-cutting dimensions
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1. Business
Not targeted
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2. Digital
Not targeted
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3. Territorial
Partially targeted
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4. International
Not targeted
© European Union, 2024. Image sources: Adobe.Stock.com