SoilWise

In Europe, up to 70 % of European soils are currently in an unhealthy state. Addressing this crisis is imperative, especially in the context of the Soil Deal for Europe, which aims to have 75 % of EU soils healthy or significantly improved by 2030. With this in mind, the EU-funded SoilWise project aims to make accessible the scattered and heterogeneous soil data and knowledge in Europe to support informed decision-making and the Soil Health Law. The project’s focus is on making these resources FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) and fostering trust and willingness to share and reuse such valuable information. Through collaborative efforts involving stakeholders, SoilWise intends to streamline existing workflows and repositories, enhancing their discoverability and interconnection.

More than ever, soil health is an issue, as recent assessments state that 60-70% of European soils can be considered unhealthy. The Soil Deal for Europe aims to have 75% of EU soils healthy or significantly improved by 2030. Reaching such an ambition requires, among others, access to reliable, harmonised existing and new data and knowledge collected at local, national and EU levels to allow informed decision-making at all scales to support the Soil Health Law and the EU Soil Strategy.

SoilWise will provide an integrated and actionable access point to scattered and heterogeneous soil data and knowledge in Europe, making them FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) and improve trust, willingness, and ability to share and re-use soil data and knowledge. In three project development cycles, co-creation and co-validation by multi-stakeholder groups are the centre of project activities. SoilWise recognises existing workflows and repositories for specific user needs and aims to work with them to enhance their discoverability, approachability and interconnection. An open, modular, scalable and extensible knowledge and data repository building on existing and new technologies will be provided while respecting data ownership, access policies and privacy. AI- and ML- techniques will be employed to interlink scattered data and knowledge, automatise the processes, infer new knowledge and increase FAIRness. SoilWise applies infrastructure thinking instead of project thinking to design a repository for at least a decade to support EUSO evolvement accordingly.

The SoilWise repository and community are designed to be a joint starting point and common ground for countries, the European Commission and other stakeholders to jointly guide soil and related spatial policy and informed decision-making towards the 2030 goals of the Green Deal, achieve healthy soils in 2050 and ensure broad uptake and implementation by land managers, policy, research and industry.