Project hub

The Mission Soil project hub provides information on projects funded under the Mission and other relevant initiatives. Through the project hub, it will be possible to gain oversight of the emerging Mission project portfolio and follow the progress and outcomes of funded projects and initiatives more easily. The hub provides information on the goals, activities, and results, factual or expected, of the projects and initiatives, outlining the relevance to Mission objectives. 

The repository enables searches by Mission objectives (specific and operational), funding programme, time and country and allows free data downloading.

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SUS-SOIL

Sustainable Soil and Subsoil health promotion by implementing agroecological land use and management to enhance ecosystem services delivery for society

Funding period: -

EU contribution: €5,997,613.75

SUS-SOIL is a 4-year project adopting multidisciplinary approach that will develop a set of 15 Subsoil-Living Labs (LLs) to inventory, analyse and benchmark different agroecology subsoil management (ASM) and land uses and their impacts on the subsoil spatial variations and dynamics to best combine ASM practices in rural and urban areas within a global regional context. SUS-SOIL results will be the start point to increase the awareness of land managers and public authorities to understand the subsoil threats and risks, support EU agroecological transformation tackling subsoils and increasing ecosystem services delivery, promote water security and climate change mitigation of rural and urban ecosystems. 

SEACURE

Innovative solutions to prevent, reduce and remediate nutrient pollution along the land-river-sea system in the Mediterranean basin

Funding period: -

EU contribution: €7,937,485.13

The overwhelming scientific evidence provided by the academic corpus indicates that to tackle the origin and negative impacts of nutrient pollution on water, soil and biodiversity, a wide landscape-river-sea system approach needs to be used. This should work on sustainable land management practices (especially, agricultural ones), improved wastewater treatment, and feasible nature restoration strategies. The project SEACURE will aim at demonstrating, scaling up and replicating effective innovations for the systemic prevention and reduction of nutrient pollution in the Mediterranean Sea basin, in line with the innovation ecosystem framework provided by the ongoing Mediterranean Lighthouse projects (as BlueMissionMed) and in close cooperation with related activities implemented by regional soil health living labs in the area.

Path4Med

Demonstrating innovative pathways addressing water and soil pollution in the Mediterranean Agro-Hydro-System

Funding period: -

EU contribution: €8,059,322.75

Path4Med is a multi-participatory and multidisciplinary project that will pave clear pathways towards zero water and soil pollution in the agro-hydro-system of the Mediterranean sea basin and other European seas through an innovative triple bottom line approach achieving economic, social, and environmental sustainability to ensure human well-being and ecosystems functioning. 

SpongeWorks

Co-creating and Upscaling Sponge Landscapes by Working with Natural Water Retention and Sustainable Management

Funding period: -

EU contribution: €14,998,925.00

SpongeWorks aims to demonstrate practical, effective, economically feasible and inclusive approaches and solutions towards enhancing the sponge functioning of interconnected groundwater, soil and surface water systems at regional scale. It applies an integrative multi-actor approach to demonstrate the effectiveness of multifunctional sponge measures for improved water and soil management for enhancing water retention in three large demonstrators in the Pinios (GR), Lèze (FR) and Vecht (NL/DE) river basins. In each demonstrator, SpongeWorks evaluates existing sponge measures, draws lessons-learned and best practices, and implements new sponge measures. 

GOV4ALL

Governance and business models for living labs: rural regeneration hubs for tackling soil health challenges in the Mediterranean region

Funding period: -

EU contribution: €11,953,115.00

In the EU, 60-70% of soils are degraded as a direct result of unsustainable management. However, tackling this multifaceted challenge is not an easy task, mainly because farmers' decisions are influenced by a wide range of factors, making it difficult to define regenerative soil management practices that are simultaneously effective, economical, have demonstrable yield benefits and are easy to implement. In this context, the goal of the project GOV4ALL is to foster a collective awareness, at the the level of five Mediterranean regions, that soils and humans must be understood as social-ecological systems and that no organisation/solution alone is capable of sustainably transforming the system.

iCOSHELLs

INNOVATIVE CO-CREATION SOIL HEALTH LIVING LABs

Funding period: -

EU contribution: €11,999,872.50

European soils face pressing conditions for their health. An alarming 60-70% of EU soils are considered unhealthy, attributed to factors such as pollution, urbanisation, and intensive agriculture, further exacerbated by climate change. This degradation results in economic, societal, and environmental repercussions, including decreased land productivity, migration, land abandonment, and biodiversity loss. Addressing this challenge necessitates holistic measures, especially since soil restoration can take centuries. The project initiative, aligning with various EU policies, emphasises the importance of comprehensive soil restoration efforts. It plans to establish six Soil Health Living Labs (SHELLs) across diverse EU climatic zones, including Sweden, Spain, Spain-France, Italy, Greece, and Bulgaria.

LivingSoiLL

Healthy Soil to Permanent Crops Living Labs

Funding period: -

EU contribution: €11,999,990.00

Healthy soil is at the heart of the European Green Deal and one of the main targets of the Mission Board. The EU is currently struggling with soil degradation which is undoubtedly linked to agriculture intensification. Thus, a new soil management paradigm on soil monitoring, restoration and protection must be an endeavour of farmers, scientists, businesses, politicians and citizens. LivingSoiLL intends to respond to these challenges by establishing 5 Living Labs (LLs) in PT, FR, ES, IT and PL focused on permanent crops (vineyards, olive groves, chestnuts, hazelnuts and apple orchards), comprising at least 50 demonstration sites and 10 lighthouses, and with active participation of more than 2000 local actors. 

SOILSCAPE

Spreading Open and Inclusive Literacy and Soil Culture through Artistic Practices and Education

Funding period: -

EU contribution: €5,997,878.75

SOILSCAPE harnesses the power of Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs), artists, and civil society organisations (CSOs) to promote soil preservation across Europe and beyond. Working with experts from the worlds of soil sciences, arts, decision-making, and humanities, this project coordinated by AFES seeks to cultivate soil literacy and celebrate soils through creative approaches, engaging citizens & professionals on this journey. SOILSCAPE's objectives include understanding human-soil relations, building a network of more than 120 relevant actors in 8 countries, onboarding at least 320 individuals from the society, providing 1,850,000 € as financial and technical support to CSOs, CCIs, schools, artists, and institutions, distributing 375,000 € as awards and 80 soil literacy certifications to inspiring initiatives, and reaching international scales through UNESCO and Coalition of Action for 4 Soil Health.

SPIN-FERT

Innovative practices, tools and products to boost soil fertility and peat substitution in horticultural crops

Funding period: -

EU contribution: €6,497,816.14

The main objective of SPIN-FERT is to integrate optimised and validated innovations in soil management practices and improve peat-free substrates to enhance soil health in vegetable, fruit and ornamental crops. SPIN-FERT will exploit outcomes, including patents, from several related projects, in particular EXCALIBUR as 6 of its members are partners in SPIN-FERT. Multi-actor approach is at the core of SPIN-FERT methodology and consortium for extensive knowledge transfer and co-design. Specifically, SPIN-FERT will optimise the production process of chosen fertilising products and improve their formulation with innovative protocols to increase efficacy.

MONALISA

MONitoring and Assessing prevention and restoration soLutIons to combat deSertificAtion

Funding period: -

EU contribution: €6,991,831.23

The main goal of MONALISA is to identify and promote the expansion of innovative and tailored solutions to prevent and reverse land degradation and desertification (LDD) while showcasing their socio-economic and environmental effectiveness. MONALISA will put in place a transdisciplinary approach to integrate scientific and local knowledge, emerging from newly and established social learning spaces with multi-sector stakeholders and multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary researchers. Work will be carried out in six Mediterranean case studies (CS), encompassing different levels of aridity across five countries (European: Italy, Spain and Greece; and non-European: Tunisia and Palestine).