Duration of the project:

10.2018. – 03. 2022.

Total value:

€ 2.230.321

EU co-financing:

€ 1.235.722

Beneficiary coordinator:

Legambiente ONLUS (NGO), Italy

Partners:

Association Green Istria – Croatia, The Coordinating Committee for International Voluntary Service (CCIV) – France, Confederazione Italiana Agricoltori (CIA) – Italy, Consiglio per la Ricerca in Agricoltura e l’analisi dell’Economia Agraria (CREA-AA) – Italy, Ente Regionale per i Servizi all’Agricoltura e alle Foreste (ERSAF) – Italy, Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale (ISPRA) – Italy, Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Architettura e Studi Urbani (POLIMI) – Italy, Roma Capitale – Italy

Web page: Soil4life

Soil organic carbon stocks play a key role in combating climate change. Soil plays an irreplaceable role in carbon storage – its carbon stock capacity is three times the amount of carbon found in the atmosphere and five times the amount contained by vegetation globally. Soil is, after the ocean, the largest carbon reservoir on the planet. It is therefore necessary not only to maintain but also to increase its role and storage capacity in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow down climate change. This requires sustainable soil management.

The project plans activities to raise awareness of the importance of sustainable soil management for food production, ecosystem sustainability and the fight against climate change in order to achieve in practice the UN Global Goal of Sustainable Development – to stop soil degradation by 2030. At the heart of the SOIL4LIFE project is the development of guidelines for sustainable soil management, which will help shape national agricultural and spatial management policies. The goal of the Soil4Life project is to improve the decision-making system on soil quality issues at European and national levels by mobilizing key stakeholders to find appropriate operational instruments, increase public awareness and specific target groups to raise awareness of soil management policies. sustainable use.

Project goals:

The overall objective of the SOIL4LIFE project is to promote sustainable and efficient land use in order to maximize ecosystem services and prevent soil degradation and, where necessary, improve its chemical, physical and biological properties.

Specific objectives:

• Improve soil decision-making at national, regional and local levels
• Provide decision makers and stakeholders with an informed soil decision-making process and provide planning support tools
• Increase farmers’ knowledge of the key role of their own sector in soil protection
• Increase the knowledge of professionals (agronomists, architects, geologists and geometers) about the soil problem
• Increase citizens’ support for soil protection policies
• Raise awareness of the European institutions and Member States about the need to adopt appropriate regulations in order to reduce soil consumption and promote sustainable soil use
• Promote the reduction of soil consumption in spatial planning
• Pilot projects in the Region of Lombardy and the City of Rome
• The goal in Croatia is to launch an initiative and bring together actors who will work to raise public awareness of the problem of soil degradation and stimulate decision makers to protect activities.

Expected results:

Increasing the awareness of citizens at the level of the European Union by 20% on the problem of unsustainable soil management; reach of the international awareness campaign: 1 million people; formation of a permanent advisory body with institutional actors; White Paper on Sustainable Soil Management for European and National Institutions; Declaration with Principles of Sustainable Soil Management for regional and municipal administrative bodies (at least 12 administrations adopt the Declaration), Guidelines for farmers for soil protection (at least 5000 farmers adopt Guidelines); Guidelines for soil protection professionals (at least 600 professionals adopt the Guidelines); 6 conferences – 600 participants, 6 seminars for teachers – 120 participants, 2 school competitions – 5000 classes; international conference at UNESCO headquarters – 250 participants; 2 international seminars and 5 conferences – 250 participants; final conference – 100 participants; Soil Manifesto for Young Europeans.

In the project, Green Istria is in charge of implementing activities B.5 – International campaign for citizens, ie B. 5.3 – Advocacy on the importance of soil for life on earth and the need for legal regulation that will ensure its protection and sustainable use. The campaign will be implemented at European, national and regional level. At European level, Green Istria is in charge of organizing two preparatory seminars in Brussels and Rome. At the regional level, she is in charge of organizing 5 forums, one of which will be held in Croatia. Participants in the seminars and forums are civil society organizations and the scientific community, as well as the relevant bodies of the European Commission, which will jointly create operational proposals for decision-makers. Cooperation will be established with European networks of CSOs and the scientific community, and the result will be Dossier with proposals for improving the situation, which will be presented at the final conference in Brussels, which will be attended by representatives of the relevant Directorates-General of the European Commission. For the implementation of this project in Croatia, Green Istria will identify and establish cooperation with all national civil society organizations interested in the topic of soil protection and with the scientific community. A regional forum for the Mediterranean region will be organized together with them. Available data will be collected for the preparation of the regional forum. The most engaged user representatives will travel to the final conference in Brussels.