Support to the operation and further development of soil-health science-policy interfaces and national soil-health hubs

Activities under this topic contribute to strengthening science-based policies for soil health across different levels of governance, in particular the implementation of the proposed EU Directive on Soil Monitoring and Resilience (Soil Monitoring Law), and to improved anchoring of R&I activities of the EU Mission “A Soil Deal for Europe” (Mission Soil) at national and regional level.

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• EU and (sub-)national decision-makers across different sectors have easy and timely access to, and make increasing use of, up-to-date policy-relevant scientific knowledge – presented in a way that suits their purposes – on drivers of soil degradation, the state of soil health, and sustainable soil management practices.
• Across all EU Member States and interested Horizon Europe Associated Countries, national- and regional-level structures for coordinating soil-health research and policy in the context of Mission Soil are strengthened or, where relevant, newly established, and the commitment from national authorities is strengthened. In addition, exchanges with similar structures established to support other EU Missions are facilitated at national and international level.

A range of programmes, projects and initiatives have been working at international, EU, and national level to increase and systematise available scientific knowledge on soil health and drivers of soil degradation, and to facilitate the uptake of this knowledge in policies for more sustainable soil management practices. This includes efforts, including under the Mission Soil, to create dedicated structures at national level to facilitate the sharing and transfer of knowledge between science on the one hand, and the designing and implementation of policies on the other. However, linkages between different science-policy interfaces in the European and international landscape remain relatively weak, and their effectiveness is subject to debate, while some do not appear to be fully operational.

There is now a need to systematically take stock and assess the strengths and weaknesses of existing science-policy interfaces in a comparative perspective and, where relevant, to improve their results, outcomes and impacts. Their effectiveness should be evaluated across different contexts, and coordinated action should be taken to make them fully operational, ensure coverage of a broader range of land uses, and address all relevant levels of governance. This should serve also the transposition and implementation of the forthcoming Soil Monitoring Law, for which national authorities and soil stakeholders need to consider the latest scientific and policy developments and have opportunities to exchange with each other and with the scientific community.

Proposed activities should:

• Take stock of past, present and planned soil-health related science-policy mechanisms and activities across different policy areas (covering at least agriculture and forestry, environment including biodiversity, climate, and spatial planning) and governance levels, analyse their purposes and the tools employed, and assess performance (at least in terms of effectiveness, efficiency and long-term sustainability). This should include case studies of real-life science-policy interactions around specific challenges of monitoring and improving soil health, and identification of criteria for – and likely conditions of – success or failure of such interactions.
• Facilitate better connections among existing mechanisms and structures for science-policy dialogue on soil health across sectors and governance levels, so that overlaps and gaps in substantive and territorial coverage are reduced, and overall effectiveness is increased.
• Identify and evaluate options for setting up and operating a functioning science-policy interface for soil health across the EU and its Member States and interested Horizon Europe Associated Countries. Options should include the medium-term establishment of a dedicated science service as a central entry point for support requests from EU and national administrations.
• Develop one or more tools for managing (collecting, organising, synthesising and presenting) existing and emerging soil-health knowledge, in particular (but not exclusively) from EU-funded R&I projects, with a view to integrating the tool(s) into a future EU-wide science-policy interface.
• Taking into account different biogeographic, administrative and cultural contexts and building on relevant existing structures, support the creation or further development and improved operation of national soil-health hubs in all Member States and interested Associated Countries, and coordinate the creation of a functioning Europe-wide network. The hubs should involve all relevant parts of public administrations as well as other stakeholders also from outside the R&I sector (including private sector and philanthropy). They should liaise with relevant national, regional and EU authorities, including National Contact Points for Horizon Europe, and address the full range of land uses impacting on soil health. Among other functions, the hubs and their network should be able to function as, or in close cooperation with, science-policy interfaces and provide regular opportunities for the further development of research agendas in line with evolving policy needs at national and EU level.

Proposals should build on the work of previous and ongoing projects and initiatives addressing horizontal aspects of science-policy interaction and knowledge management in the Mission Soil and other parts of Horizon Europe and other EU-funded programmes.^[1] They should include a dedicated task and allocate resources for close coordination with other Horizon Europe projects addressing (sub-)national involvement in different missions horizontally, as well as contribute to relevant cluster activities in the context of the Mission Soil Platform. Proposals should also include a task and resources to facilitate regular exchanges with hubs or similar structures set up by other EU Missions, in order to identify and share best practices on science-policy interaction, stakeholder and citizen engagement, the long-term sustainability of the hubs, or collaborations and synergies between them at the national and subnational levels. Additionally, proposals should support and collaborate closely with Soil Mission Board members to engage new stakeholders, mobilise and align additional funding, and promote and support the development of hubs.

Proposals should work closely with the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) to contribute to the JRC’s efforts on soil monitoring and the development of the European Union Soil Observatory (EUSO), and with international institutions and initiatives addressing science-policy interaction for soil health.^[2] In particular, proposals should actively engage the national soil-health hubs in relevant OECD initiatives aiming at strengthening evidence-informed policy-making for mission-oriented innovation (e.g. contributing to the community of practice through mutual learning, workshops and networking initiatives).

This action supports the follow-up to the July 2023 Communication on EU Missions assessment.

[1] Including the project SoilWise; also relevant is the Mission Soil Platform.

[2] International institutions whose relevance should be explored include the Global Soil Partnership’s Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils and the Science-Policy Interface of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).