NATIONAL INFORMATION DAY Prague, 18 October 2021
Horizon Europe
MISSION BOARD FOR
SOIL HEALTH AND FOOD
Implementing „A Soil Deal for Europe“
Emil Cienciala
This presentation is delivered by a member of a Horizon Europe Mission
Board, which is an informal group of experts set up by the European
Commission to provide advice for the identification and implementation
of missions in the future Horizon Europe programme. The contents of the
presentation do not represent the official views of the European Commission
nor do they constitute a commitment of any kind on its behalf.
Research and
Innovation
Moving from the proposal..
..to the implementation:
A Soil Deal for Europe:
100 Living labs and lighthouses to lead
the transition towards healthy soils by 2030
In the context of this mission, Soil Health
is defined as
“the continued capacity of soils to support
essential ecosystem services”
(assessed through a set of proposed
measurable indicators)
Specific objectives and targets
1. Reduce land degradation relating to desertification
• Halt desertification and move beyond
land degradation neutrality
2. Conserve and increase
soil organic carbon stocks
• Increase carbon concentration on
cultivated land by 0.1-0.4%/year;
• Area of managed peatlands losing carbon
is significantly reduced
3. No net soil sealing and increased re-use of urban soils
• Urban land recycling is increased beyond 13%
• Achieve no net soil sealing
Specific objectives and targets
4. Reduce soil pollution and enhance restoration
• 25% land under organic farming
• Reduce fertilization use and nutrient loss
5. Prevent erosion
• reducing 25% land affected by water erosion
6. Improve soil structure
• ..reducing 23-33% of affected soils
7. Reduce EU global footprint on soils
• Impact of food, timber and biomass import
in line with international standards
8. Increase soil literacy in European society
How? Mission’s intervention logic
Objective 1
O1. Research and Innovation
1. Synthesize existing knowledge and gaps
2. Exploit and further develop research infrastructures and
platforms
3. Advance knowledge and capacities in relation to the specific
mission objectives
4. Building the innovation ecosystem to accelerate innovation and
deployment in practices, technologies, business models, value
chains and policies
5. Going global – international cooperation; reducing the global soil
footprint
Objective 2
O2. Co-creation of knowledge and
innovation in living labs and lighthouses
Researchers, land managers, businesses, policy decision makers
and citizens working together in
- create knowledge
▪ Living laboratories - test novel approaches
- show good practice
▪ Lighthouses - demonstrate solutions
Ambition: 100 living labs and lighthouses by 2030
Objective 3
O3. Consistent soil health monitoring
Eight soil health indicators applied at different
spatial scales over time.
Actions include (i.a.):
• Setting-up technical support for cooperation on monitoring
• Targets and thresholds for indicators of soil health and soil management
• Promoting national soil health monitoring programmes
• Data integration across mission activities and integration of data
with EU Soil Observatory
• Harmonised Soil Health Report and EU Soil Health Certificate
• Robust approach to track the EU’s global soil footprint
https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/sites/default/files/
concept_note_euso_final_sep2021.pdf
O4. Engage with the soil user
community and society
Stimulus for
- Soils in education
- Integrated soil research
- Learning opportunities
for society
- Engaging society in
Living Labs & Lighthouses
- Workshops with
citizens
- Access to advisory services
- Events, fairs, campaigns
- Articles, videos, newsletters
Objective 4
Soil mission in Horizon Europe
Work programmme 2021-2022 soon to
be adopted with a sizable budget for
proposals* contributing to
a structured roll-out of mission
activities and contributing to the
mission’s goal and objectives
* Including
• Coordination and Support Actions
• Research and Innovation Actions
Expected impact
The mission
“A Soil Deal for Europe” will
raise society’s awareness of soils and
put Europe on a path towards sustainable
land and soil management.
Do you want to know more?
Join the mission activities, have your say
and spread the message
▪ Mission soil health and food webpage
https://ec.europa.eu/info/research-and-
innovation/funding/funding-opportunities/funding-
programmes-and-open-calls/horizon-europe/missions-
horizon-europe/soil-health-and-food_en
▪ EIP-AGRI news
https://ec.europa.eu/eip/agriculture/en/news/launch-eu-
mission-soil-deal-europe
▪ EU – Soil Health and Food – implementation plan
https://ec.europa.eu/info/publications/implementation-
plans-eu-missions_en
Thank you!
# HorizonEU #EUmissions #MissionSoil
http://ec.europa.eu/horizon-europe
Presented by Emil Cienciala
(
[email protected])
