Mission Soil

Healthy soils, sustainable soil management, soil restoration and preservation, carbon reservoir, soil fertility

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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:

reduce desertification
conserve soil organic carbon stocks
stop soil sealing and increase re-use of urban soils
reduce soil pollution and enhance restoration
prevent erosion
improve soil structure to enhance soil biodiversity
reduce the EU global footprint on soils
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.

A soil deal for Europe – mission possible in the Baltic Sea Region

Past Event

Wed, Jun 29, 2022 09:30 AM - Wed, Jun 29, 2022 09:30 AM

Our Chief Executive Officer, Michael Browne, will be presenting a session on CrowdHelix Opportunities in Soil Missions during the second day of "A soil deal for Europe – mission possible in the Baltic Sea Region", series of webinars organised by Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian RDI Liaison Offices, and NCBR Poland in Brussels in cooperation with countries National Contacts Points (NCPs). During both events the experts from the European Commission (EC), Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian and Polish national authorities, soil research institutions, start-ups and NGOs will showcase the opportunities under “Horizon Europe” funding programme, present best practices on how to contribute to the EU Mission “A Soil Deal for Europe” and how to coordinate implementation efforts at the regional level in the Baltic Sea region countries.

Marine Desoche

Helix Manager

EU GrantsAccess, the joint office of UZH and ETH Zurich, is proud to lead the Mission Soil Helix. Soils are an integral part of human life and we are particularly interested in encouraging research that aims at solving soil-related problems.