GSS EU Science Funding Gateway

Soil contamination is widely acknowledged as a severe hazard to humans as well as to soil health, affecting the ability of soils to provide ecosystem services including the provision of safe and sufficient food, clean water or habitats for biodiversity. There is a need to better understand the precise sources (both point source and diffuse pollution) and the status of soil pollution as well as its effects on soil health, the environment, and its socio-economy consequences as a basis for more effective and wide-spread remediation of soils. Given the diversity of situations regarding the type and severity of pollution as well as an incomplete view on the scale of polluted soils, effective strategies need to be in place that allow to prioritise investments, identify the most appropriate methods and financial strategies for decontamination and prepare the ground for concrete actions.