GSS EU Science Funding Gateway

Proposed activities will:

• study in-depth the role of the following factors in soil health and land degradation: (1) economic factors, e.g. in relation to subsidies and other policy instruments, the polluter pays principle, payments for ecosystem services, costs and benefits of prevention, price of agricultural products, income, land markets, land tenure and prices; (2) social factors, e.g. in relation to civil society, social cohesion, income inequality, population density, farm structures, rural economy, farm demography; (3) cultural aspects, e.g. in relation to values and norms, strength of governance and public institutions, environmental awareness, product preferences, representation of soil and land in Member State rural cultures, education;
• identify the most important aspects that drive land management and land degradation with a view to elaborate integrated approaches, policies and (funding) strategies contributing to lifting the constraints impeding soil health recovery and land improvement and enable sustainable land management;
• develop and test (interactive) tools to assess risks as well as identify and visualise hotspots of land degradation across Europe.

Projects should

• take account of the diversity of land uses (agriculture, forests, abandoned land, residential, mining and industry, recreational, etc.) and of geographical diversity in the EU;
• work in an interdisciplinary manner and involve the effective contribution of social sciences and humanities (SSH) disciplines (including economics, sociology, history, geography);
• include a task to collaborate with other projects financed under this topic;
• take due account of the potential of digital technologies including artificial intelligence.