SOILGUARD, a Horizon 2020 project focusing on boosting soil sustainability, held its inaugural meeting online last month – with the first meeting kicking off its project activities.
25 transdisciplinary project partners from 17 countries came together to share the project goals, expectations and results to be achieved during the next four years.
Roles and responsibilities to be carried out were explained by Leitat, project coordinator, and the leaders of the different work packages.
The aim of SOILGUARD is to boost the sustainable use of soil biodiversity to protect soil multifunctionality and increase economic, social and environmental well-being.
This, the partners say, will be achieved by co-creating strong evidence of the links between soil management, soil biodiversity, soil multifunctionality and human well-being across biogeographical regions.
This evidence will be obtained by means of a holistic ground-breaking Soil Biodiversity and Well-being Framework.
SOILGUARD will assess soil biodiversity status and its contribution to the delivery and value of soil-mediated ecosystem services (ES) in relation to threats such as land degradation, unsustainable soil management and climate change.
The evidence will be used to:
- Quantify the environmental, economic, and social benefits of sustainable soil management (SSM) and soil biodiversity;
- Increase the power to forecast soil biodiversity responses to ongoing and projected challenges, and cascading effects on soil-mediated ES and human well-being;
- Inform national, EU and global policy and conservation frameworks;
- To mainstream and support SSM practices implementation.
The research has received funding from the European Union Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme.
Teagasc are the Irish partner in the SOILGUARD, the Horizon 2020 project. Dr Fiona Brennan, Teagasc research officer, Johnstown Castle, Wexford said:
“The importance of the life within our soils to the sustainability, resilience and functioning of our farming systems cannot be overstated.
“Understanding and harnessing this biology will be key to the development of the carbon neutral and climate resilient agricultural systems of the future.”