New Horizon Europe project at UNSA! SUS-SOIL: the fight against soil degradation in Europe

University of Sarajevo (UNSA), Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences (https://ppf.unsa.ba/) and Faculty of Forestry (https://www.sfsa.unsa.ba/web/), participate as partners in the international SUS project - SOIL.

SUS-SOIL: sustainable Soil and Subsoil health promotion by implementing agroecological land use and management to enhance ecosystem services delivery for society is a four-year research project financed through Horizon Europe.

The introductory meeting of the project was held in Lugo (Spain) from 2 to 4 October 2024. Almost 50 participants from more than 10 countries gathered in Lugo, hosted by the project coordinator - the University of Santiago de Compostela.

This initiative will apply a multidisciplinary approach where it is planned to create 15 “Subsoil-Living Labs” to inventory, analyze and compare different agroecological practices of sub-surface soil management (ASM). Also, the initiative should include an analysis of the way soil/land is used, and the impact on spatial variations and dynamics of underground layers. The aim is to combine the best ASM practices in rural and urban areas in a global regional context.

“Living Labs” will be located in eight biogeographical regions: Boreal, Atlantic, Continental, Alpine, Pannonian, Mediterranean, Black Sea and Anatolian, across Europe and North Africa. Three relevant soil types will be analyzed in each laboratory to study the level of degradation, long-term soil use practices and develop farm idiotypes combining different ASM management practices. The results of the SUS-SOIL project will be a starting point for raising awareness among soil users and public authorities about threats and risks to subsoils, supporting EU agroecological transformation with a focus on subsoils and increasing ecosystem services, promoting water security and mitigating climate change in rural and urban ecosystems.

The consortium includes 22 participants and 2 partner organizations. Participants include 11 higher education institutions (USC, UC, UNIPI, UTM, AUS, UNSA, UDC, UPM, CIHEAM-IAMB, CU, HU), 5 research organizations (ZALF, LIFEWATCH ERIC, NFC, LUKE, WETSUS), 3 technical and scientific support (VDT, VHC, PEFC), 2 foundations and associations (FEUGA, AFG), 2 small/public enterprises (SENSEEN, A CARQUEIXA) and 1 public (CARM) from 13 countries.

Under the coordination of USC, the project will have total costs of 5,997,613.75 euros, fully financed by the European Union.

The SUS-SOIL consortium will work on the development of a database for monitoring sub-surface soil layers (S-DB), which will be compatible with the LUCAS and ESDAC databases. In addition, it will create a Decision Support Tool (S-DST) that takes into account soil degradation and relevant business models, and propose a strategic framework for subsoil management policy to promote best practices for agroecological subsoil management.