Smart land use management in the EU and China

Land degradation is considered as a major global environmental issue of this century. It is happening at an alarming pace, threatening food security and environmental quality. The effects of land and effectively soil degradation involve a complex interplay of environmental and socioeconomic–political factors acting at different spatial and temporal scales. Land resources (i.e. soil, water, and biodiversity) are largely determined by the management practices, governance systems, and environmental changes. Unsustainable farming practices contribute not only to soil degradation at a local level, but also to increased carbon emissions, reduced biodiversity, and diminished rainfall on regional and global scales. 

The problem in China

China faces severe soil degradation, with over 40% of its land area being affected by erosion. With quick urbanisation across the whole country, the total of arable land decreased. Intensive agriculture and high input of fertiliser and pesticides has resulted in land quality declining. Soil is widely degraded and this includes soil erosion, land impoverishment, soil salinisation and soil acidification.  

The problem in Europe

Land degradation in Europe has increasingly been recognised as a serious environmental problem. Research has concluded that six major threats place soil fertility at risk, namely, soil erosion, loss of organic matter, soil biodiversity, soil compaction, soil salinity and soil pollution. These threats have adverse effects on soil functions and ecosystem services. 

The SIEUSOIL project which is supported by the EU Research and Innovation programme HORIZON 2020, aims to develop sustainable and holistic soil management practices based on a harmonised land information system suitable for diverse climate and operation conditions along different EU and China locations. A research platform consisting of advanced crop and soil sensing tools, modelling and data fusion, digital soil mapping and farm management information systems will be developed to maximise land productivity and socio-economic benefits, while minimising the environmental impacts. 

Professor Dimitrios Moshou of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki leads the consortium of 23 partners, 7 based in China and 16 in Europe, to design, implement and test the shared China-EU Web Observatory platform that will provide Open Linked Data to monitor status and threats of soil and assist in decision making for sustainable support of agroecosystem functions, in view of the projected climate change.  

Further information:

Project Coordinator: Prof. Dimitrios Moshou, dmoshou@auth.gr 

https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/818346 

https://www.sieusoil.eu/

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