The Missions

The European Union’s Missions are commitments to solve major societal challenges. As an integral part of the Horizon Europe programme, each Mission will operate as a portfolio of actions, such as research projects, policy measures, or even legislative initiatives, to achieve a measurable goal that could not be achieved through individual actions.

The Mission Soil Helix

EU GrantsAccess, the joint office of the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich is proud to lead the Mission Soil Helix. The helix is a result of the introduction of the EU missions, specifically the EU mission: A Soil Deal for Europe, which aims to establish 100 living labs and lighthouses to lead the transition towards healthy soils by 2030.

Scope

«Essentially, all life depends upon the soil...There can be no life without soil and no soil without life; they have evolved together» Charles E. Kellogg

Charles E. Kellogg has very correctly recognized the vital importance of soils and the numerous roles they play: not only are soils active participants in the global carbon cycle, contributing to reducing CO2 emissions, but they also prevent erosion, regulate water, increase biodiversity, act as the largest terrestrial organic carbon reservoir, and of course are the foundation of our food systems.

Considering their importance, the EU has introduced the following 8 main objectives for the soil mission:

  1. reduce desertification
  2. conserve soil organic carbon stocks
  3. stop soil sealing and increase re-use of urban soils
  4. reduce soil pollution and enhance restoration
  5. prevent erosion
  6. improve soil structure to enhance soil biodiversity
  7. reduce the EU global footprint on soils
  8. improve soil literacy in society

The Mission Soil Helix aims at promoting international collaboration at a European level, while applying novel R&I approaches to address the above-mentioned objectives.

Organisations

  •
    ETH Zurich
  •
    Universität Zürich
  •
    University College Cork
  •
    Tel Aviv University
  •
    University of Leeds

Resources

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