GSS EU Science Funding Gateway

The selected project will help develop and implement a harmonised reporting structure at EU, national and local levels for soil health. More specifically, activities will

• test the eight indicators proposed in the mission implementation plan against their suitability to measure in a reliable way the status and changes in soil health, in particular in relation to progress towards the mission’s specific objectives;
• identify alternative indicators where the ones proposed in the implementation plan of the Soil Mission do not prove to be appropriate (e.g. sensitivity to change, critical thresholds, response time, feasibility of pan-EU operation). The indicators recommended (be it the ones indicated in the implementation plan or alternative ones) should be measurable, realistic (e.g. easy to use in particular for farmers and foresters, urban planners), unambiguous and scalable;
• develop a methodology to combine proposed indicators into a coherent soil health index;
• identify proxies for soil health, which are “easier” to monitor or more reactive to change. These “next generation indicators” could be based for example on observable land use and soil management or on data on the uptake of practices rather than direct measurements of soil properties;
• demonstrate the link between the proposed soil indicators, soil functions and ecosystems services supported by soils (taking into account the various types of soils and land uses);
• harmonize and benchmark the proposed indicators for a range of soil types, land uses and climate zones in the EU and Associated Countries and define the acceptable limits or thresholds;
• update indicators as a result of feedback following monitoring campaigns or data inputs;
• support the development of a Soil Health Dashboard under the EU Soil Observatory.