Launch of the EU Soil Observatory

Healthy soils are at the heart of the Green Deal for Europe.

Once lost, soils are non-renewable in terms of human lifetimes.

In addition to providing us with food, fibres and fuel, soils play a key role in regulating the Earth’s climate, providing us with clean water, protecting us from floods and preserves our cultural heritage.

The launch of JRC's EU Soil Observatory took take place on 4 December 2020.

The new EU Soil Observatory will be a dynamic and inclusive platform that will provide information and data needed to safeguard soils to the European Commission and the broader soil user community.

Watch live

The event was live webstreamed  - time: 10:00 to 16:00 CET

Participants could pose questions while watching using Sli.do (enter the meeting code #JRCSOIL).

Sessions

• 10:00 -11:50  Setting the scene: high-level panel discussion on policy outlooks and societal needs on the sustainable use of soil
• 12:00 - 13:00 Formal launch of the EU Soil Observatory
• 14:00 – 16:00 Technical implementation of Soil Observatory

Speakers

• EU Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth
• EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development
• EC Joint Research Centre, Director General and Director for Sustainable Resources
• European Commission Policy Makers
• Presidency of the Council of the European Union 
• Representatives from Industry and the Research Community
• Chair Soil Health and Food Mission Board

Agenda

Download the Agenda (in PDF) (last updated 3/12/2020, 16:45) 

Presentations

Setting the scene: panel discussion on policy outlooks and needs on sustainable use of soil

• The EU Soil Observatory (Luca Montanarella, EC JRC))

Formal launch of the EU Soil Observatory

• The EU Soil Observatory (Giovanni De Santi, EC JRC)
• Caring for soil is caring for life: A Mission for Soil Health and Food (Cees Veerman, Chair of the Mission)

Technical implementation of Soil Observatory

• Overview of key components (Arwyn Jones, EC JRC)
• Why Citizen Engagement? (Michael Berger, WWF)
• Support to research & innovation (Katharina Helming, SMS H2020)
• Towards a soil indicator dashboard (Rainer Baritz, EEA)
• Monitoring in the Soil Thematic Strategy (Mirco Barbero)
• Soil monitoring and LULUCF (Simon Kay, EC DG Climate Action)
• Pesticides/Farm2Fork (Christine Meisinger, EC DG Health and Food Safety)
• Soils and Agriculture (Laura Aguglia, EC DG Agriculture and Rural Development)
• EJP Soil and LUCAS (Antonio Bispo, INRAE)

Contact

For additional information you may send email to:

EU-SOIL-OBSERVATORY@ec.europa.eu