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Scientific Article details

Title European agricultural soil management: Towards climate-smart and sustainability, knowledge needs and research approaches
ID_Doc 63703
Authors Keesstra, SD; Chenu, C; Munkholm, LJ; Cornu, S; Kuikman, PJ; Thorsoe, MH; Besse-Lototskaya, A; Visser, SM
Title European agricultural soil management: Towards climate-smart and sustainability, knowledge needs and research approaches
Year 2024
Published European Journal Of Soil Science, 75, 1
DOI 10.1111/ejss.13437
Abstract Current soil- and land degradation seriously challenge our societies; it contributes to climate change, loss of biodiversity and loss of agricultural productions. Yet, soils are also seen as a major part of the solution, if maintained or restored to provide ecosystem services. Climate-smart sustainable management of soils can provide options for soil health maintenance and restoration. In the European Union, the resource management and sustainability challenge are addressed in the Green Deal that, among other goals, aspires towards a healthy climate-resilient agricultural sector that will produce sufficient products without damaging ecosystems and contribute to better biodiversity and mitigate climate change. The European Joint Programme (EJP) SOIL was set up to contribute to these goals by developing knowledge, tools and an integrated research community to foster climate-smart sustainable agricultural soil management that provides a diversity of ecosystem service, such as adapting to and mitigating climate change, allowing sustainable food production, and sustaining soil biodiversity. This paper provides an overview of the potential of climate-smart sustainable soil management research to the targets of the Green Deal that are related to soils most directly. The EJP SOIL EU-wide consultation (interviews and questionnaires) and literature analysis (national and international reports and papers) done in the first year (2020-2021) generated a wealth of data. This data showed that there are specific manners to do research that are essential for it to be effective and efficient and that can actively contribute to the Green Deal targets. We concluded that research needs to be: (i) interdisciplinary, (ii) long-term, (iii) multi-scaled, from plot to landscape, (iv) evaluating trade-offs of selected management options for ecosystem services and (v) co-constructed with key stakeholders. Research on climate-smart sustainable soil management should be developed (1) on plot scale when mobilizing soil processes and on landscape scale when addressing sediment and water connectivity and biodiversity management; and (2) address the enabling conditions through good governance, social acceptance and viable economic conditions. A guideline to European agricultural soil management: three layers for sustainable soil management: the biosphere: healthy soils and (bio)diverse landscapes (green bar); solutions: based on functioning of the natural system (yellow bar); enabling conditions: finding the social and economic enable conditions (blue bar).image
Author Keywords (bio) diverse landscapes; science-policy interface; soil health; soil information; soil management knowledge; Sustainable Development Goals
Index Keywords Index Keywords
Document Type Other
Open Access Open Access
Source Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED)
EID WOS:001135782600001
WoS Category Soil Science
Research Area Agriculture
PDF https://doi.org/10.1111/ejss.13437
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