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Land and soils require our attention!
They are limited.There are different – synergistic or competing – options how land can be used. When we use land, we affect our soil, sediment and water system to which the land is linked. We need the best understanding of these complex links in order to steward land to a more sustainable future for Europe’s citizens and its global partners.
Science creates and supports implementation of knowledge
– all the range from fundamental to applied research, from groundbreaking to practice demonstration projects – that Europeans need to manage land more sustainably and provide politicians with evidence base.

It is time to gather an overview of what has been achieved and where topical challenges remain.
Many researchers in Europe have addressed soils. DG Research funded projects like TIMBRE and HOMBRE addressing barriers to brownfield regeneration, RECARE and VOLANTE gave new insights for integrated land management. LANDMARK highlighted the role of soil functions. Soils4EU, a DG Environment service contract providing support in relation to the implementation of the EU Soil Thematic Strategy, recently focused on soil ecosystem services and transboundary effects of soil degradation.
This event will present and discuss these state-of-the-art projects in Europe on sustainable soil and land management.


Moreover, we will talk about the frontiers of research and topical knowledge demands from society.
More than 500 stakeholders identified their research needs recently. The Coordination and Support Action INSPIRATION engaged with
funders (public and private), knowledge producers, end users of research and NGO’s
from more than twenty countries to build a Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) that addresses current societal challenges in spatial planning, land use and soil management. Therefore, the scope of issues that were collected shape a truly multi-stakeholder-based research agenda. It merges individual requirements of EU Member States and bottom-up collected research demands of stakeholders into a consistent agenda. The level of
integration of soil and land use related topics
is remarkable. The agenda blends research on soil quality, land use and land management issues, both in urban and in rural areas. The ambition has been unique: Structuring research areas towards balancing the demand for and supply of resources and natural capital and reducing the ecological footprint by proper land management methods and tools.
Join this year’s World Soil Day celebration and become part of the implementation of the INSPIRATION research agenda or meet with like-minded European stakeholders interested in what we can achieve in research to support more sustainable land and soil management in Europe.