Increasing environmental resilience through a better knowledge and management of the soil-water nexus

Develop and validate one or more indicators for the soil water holding capacity descriptor included in the proposed Soil Monitoring Law, considering the different pedoclimatic areas and land uses in the EU and Associated Countries.

Identify the soil properties and associated indicators (e.g., structure, bulk density, porosity, depth, organic matter, buffering etc.) and factors (e.g., slope, frost, cover, drainage network, etc.) that determine soil-water dynamics and are relevant for the probability and virulence of extreme events. The use of remote sensing techniques is encouraged for soil factors identification.

Assess the role of soil biodiversity for the previously identified water-relevant soil properties and the impact of the different soil factors on soil biodiversity, considering different pedoclimatic areas and land uses in the EU and Associated Countries. Where relevant, involve soil biodiversity taxonomists to validate methods and expand knowledge.

Develop and validate new models (or substantially improve existing ones) at watershed/landscape level that mainstream and integrate the functional role of soil biodiversity in soil-water interactions and specially in risk assessment of extreme events.

Assess and validate strategies and best practices proposed in the context of other relevant EU-funded projects and initiatives (e.g. Living Labs funded under the EU Mission “A Soil Deal for Europe” [4] or the Horizon Europe projects SpongeBoost and SpongeScapes ) to increase environmental resilience by improving the soil-water nexus through restoration, conservation and management of soil and its biodiversity, considering the different pedoclimatic areas and land uses in the EU and Associated Countries.

The proposed activities should duly consider the different pedoclimatic areas and land uses (agricultural, natural, and urban) across the EU and Associated Countries, with enough experiment design robustness to guarantee the meaningfulness of results.

In the specific case of agricultural lands, due attention should be given to the impact of the differences between conventional, agroecological and organic production.

Proposals should include dedicated tasks and appropriate resources for coordination measures and joint activities with other relevant EU-funded initiatives, specially under the Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’, in particular for the validation of innovative approaches for increasing environmental resilience, and for engagement with the relevant cluster activities.

Proposals should demonstrate a route towards open access, longevity, sustainability and interoperability of knowledge and outputs through close collaboration with the EU Soil Observatory (EUSO) and SoilWise.

Concrete efforts should be made to ensure that the data produced in the context of the funded project is FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable), particularly in the context of real-time data feeds, exploring workflows that can provide “FAIR-by-design” data, i.e., data that is FAIR from its generation.

When dealing with models, actions should promote the highest standards of transparency and openness, as much as possible going well beyond documentation and extending to aspects such as assumptions, protocols, code and data, that is managed in compliance with the previously mentioned FAIR principles.

Proposals are encouraged to consider, where relevant, the data, expertise and services offered by European research infrastructures in the environment, biological & food domains or imaging capacities [5].