Life on Earth depends on healthy soils. Soil provides food, clean water and habitats for biodiversity while contributing to climate resilience including an increased preparedness to extreme weather events (both droughts and floods). As the largest terrestrial habitat, the soil is a unique ecosystem that is critical to aboveground and belowground biodiversity yet it is the least studied. Partly as a result of an increasingly urban lifestyle, there is very little awareness in society on the importance of soils, their functions, the threats to soil health and what can be done to preserve this valuable resource. A lack of education and understanding often underpins land degradation and a loss of soil capacity to provide the functions on which we depend. Both land managers in rural areas and urban planners need improved access to ready-to-use knowledge and to advisory services that can support them in their efforts to manage soils in sustainable ways. Proposals should therefore identify in close cooperation with regional authorities, stakeholders and communities existing “soil needs” (e.g. status, main problems and priority areas for improvement) in a number of contrasting regions in each Member State and Associated Country so that different land-use systems are addressed. Insight on the status of soils and the main challenges to soil health should be a starting point for recommendations on priority actions and activities to be implemented in living labs and lighthouses among other actions as outlined. The maximum award value is EUR 5 000 000
Eligibility
To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the eligible countries;
- The Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions
- The Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States
- Eligible non-EU countries; countries associated to Horizon Europe and low- and middle-income countries
Funder: European Commission
Deadline: 20 October 2021
