Soils4EU workshops

TERRAenVISION Conference, 2. September 2019, Barcelona

workshops on “Impact of soil degradation on human health” “Potential of Earth Observation for improved soil monitoring”

SOILS4EU is a 3-year project commissioned by  the European Commission - DG Environment in relation to the implementation of the EU Soil Thematic Strategy.

The project is coordinated by Deltares (the Netherlands), with four partners from Germany (Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research Germany – UFZ), Poland (Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation – IUNG) and Spain (Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Zaragoza – IAMZ CIHEAM, and the Spanish National Research Council-Estación Experimental de Aula Dei – CSIC-EEAD).

In combination with the last ESP Plenary Meeting (March 2016), the project consortium organized a Workshop "Impacts of and implementation barriers for soil protection and sustainable soil management on arable land across the EU"; the report from this workshop was circulated to you on 29 May 2019.

On 2 September 2019, as side events of the TERRAenVISION 2019 conference, SOILS4EU is organizing in the afternoon (14h30-18h00), two simultaneous workshops to discuss subjects that DG Environment considers of great importance:

- Workshop 1: Impact of soil degradation on human health

- Workshop 2: Potential of Earth Observation for improved soil monitoring

SOILS4EU has drafted two dedicated in-depth reports that will be presented and discussed during the workshops. The aim is not only to disseminate the findings but to gather expert opinions and feedback on the conclusions and recommendations of the reports. The workshops results will feed the reports and serve as deliverables of the project.

Prior to the workshop, the registered participants will receive draft copies of the report and a set of key questions to be discussed during the workshop sessions. Each workshop will be organized into a plenary presentation of the report, a working groups session for in depth discussion around a set of key questions, and a plenary session to get the feed-back of the working groups, discussion on key messages and recommendations and final conclusions. After the closure of the workshops, the participants are invited for a cocktail.

The workshops will run in parallel from 14h30 to 18h00. Experts interested to participate in a workshop are kindly invited to confirm the workshop of their choice by registering through the TERRAenVISION registration system. Participation to the Soils4EU workshops is free of charge.

Venue: Faculty of Geography and History, University of Barcelona, St. Montalegre 6, 08001 Barcelona

Further information can be obtained from: Antonio López-Francos, Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Zaragoza  (lopez-francos(at)iamz.ciheam.org)