Background

The topics of the meeting are related to the implementation plan of the EU Soil Policy Plans, in particular the Community Soil Action Plan under the European Green Agreement. The tasks of the Soil Mission include, inter alia, the development of a framework and tools to prepare for sustainable and climate-smart soil use and management and the restoration and maintenance of soil health. Both themes set out a wide range of tasks for public and non-public actors dealing with soil.

The regulatory framework and agricultural subsidies have a direct impact on soil health. To have effective soil health protection schemes it is essential to consider scientific knowledge on properties of soil, soil ecosystem services and interlinkages among them. Furthermore, the assessment of the impact of soil protection policies and practical soil use and management is needed.

The conference provides a platform to discuss technical and socio-economic options for maintaining and increasing soil organic carbon and achieving soil health.

An example for analytical frameworks to identify the shortcomings of soil protection schemes is going to be introduced to trigger discussion on the contradiction between theoretical goals, implementation of science-based legislation, soil protecting agricultural subsidies and actual practices of soil protection. The example covers the examination of the effectiveness of legal and institutional guarantees stemming from the Hungarian Fundamental Law.

The conference is organised with the support of the “Soils for Europe” Horizon Europe and the ‘Sustainability, resilience – the societal challenges of climate change and adaptation’ projects.

Goals

There are a number of legal instruments protecting soil health in European countries, still, considerable share of the continent’s soil resources is degraded to some degree.

The conference has two interconnected issues to be discussed.

One is the knowledge gaps on soil organic carbon, both in terms of scientific knowledge and the availability of knowledge for implementing best practices to protect and improve soil conditions. Discussions shall consider social and economic factors, governance, institutional arrangements, markets, environmental and ecological factors, and legal aspects that may prevent the effective implementation of science-based solutions of maintaining and increasing soil organic carbon. Professional input form participants of various background and occupation is expected to rate the most important and urgent issues with considerable knowledge gaps in soil organic carbon research and applying the scientific findings.

The second is on the shortcomings of protection despite the legal and institutional guaranties in protecting soil health and in preventing negative impacts of agricultural subsidies. Discussion shall consider interlinkages between the soil properties to be protected, and the incorporation of scientific knowledge into legislation, the effectiveness of legal acts and their implementation, the agricultural subsidies which aim to protect soil health, and the institutional guaranties.

Professional input from participants of various background and occupation is expected to identify the origin of the shortcomings and means/tools to overcome them.

The conference aims to discuss the above-described knowledge gaps and the shortcomings of soil protection schemes.

Conference format
Keynote opening speeches will provide overviews (1) of current research findings regarding the state of the art and knowledge gaps to maintain and increase soil organic carbon and (2)  analytical frameworks to identify the shortcomings of soil protection schemes and the contradiction between theoretical goals and actual practices of soil protection.

A thorough discussion with actice involvement of the participants follow the keynote speaches.

Registration

Participation is free and is available up to the room’s capacity.
Link to registration: https://pretix.eu/SOC/registration/

Organisers

Institute of Advanced Studies, Kőszeg
Pázmány Péter Catholic University

Funders

SOLO receives funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 101091115. Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the EU nor the EC can be held responsible for them.

The conference is organised in the framework of the project called “Sustainability, resilience – the societal challenges of climate change and adaptation”, supported by the Hungarian Ministry of Technology and Industry under the funding grant agreement (contract No. EKPPF/922/2021-ITM_SZERZ.) with the St. John Paul II Pope Research Centre Institute for the Protection of the Integrity of Creation of PPKE. Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the Hungarian Ministry or the Institute. Neither the Ministry, nor the Institute can be held responsible for them.