RECARE ProjectFinding and sharing solutions to protect our soils

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AimsThe RECARE project aims to:

1. Fill knowledge gaps in our understanding of the functioning of soil systems under the influence of climate and human activities

2. Develop a harmonised methodology to assess the state of soil degradation and conservation

3. Develop a universally applicable methodology to assess the impacts of soil degradation upon soil functions and ecosystem services

4. Select innovative measures in collaboration with stakeholders and evaluate the efficacy of these regarding soil functions and ecosystem services as well as costs and benefits

5. Upscale results from 17 case studies to European scale to evaluate the effectiveness of measures across Europe

6. Evaluate ways to facilitate adoption of these measures by stakeholders

7. Carry out an integrated assessment of existing soil related policies and strategies to identify their goals, impacts, synergies and potential inconsistencies, and to derive recommendations for improvement based on RECARE results.

Due to changing climate and growing human intervention, soils are currently under increasing threat from a wide range of processes, such as soil erosion, compaction, desertification, sealing, contamination and others. They need to be adequately protected and conserved to ensure that their many functions and services, such as food production, buffering and filtering of water, and storage of nutrients and carbon, are not lost or diminished. The RECARE project has brought together a multidisciplinary team of 27 different organisations to find ways of assessing the current threats to soils and finding innovative solutions to prevent further soil degradation across Europe.

RECARE Project

A research initiative to develop effective soil degradation prevention and remediation solutions across Europe.

PHOTOS: page 1 - erosion by water, salinization page 2 - erosion by wind, flooding

RECARE Case StudiesAs soil degradation problems are caused by the interplay of biophysical, socio-economic and political factors, all of which vary across Europe, these problems are by definition site specific and occur at different scales. Therefore, 17 case studies of soil threats are included in RECARE to study the various conditions that occur across Europe and to find appropriate responses using an innovative approach combining scientific and local knowledge.

SOIL THREAT CASE STUDY AREA

Soil erosion by water Frienisberg, Switzerland; Caramulo, Portugal; Peristerona Watershed, Cyprus

Salinisation Timbaki, Crete, Greece

Soil compaction Aarslev, Denmark

Soil sealing Wroclaw & Warsaw, Poland

Desertification Canyoles River Basin, Spain; Gunnarsholt, Iceland

Floods and landslides Vansjø-Hobøl Catchment, Norway; Myjava Catchment, Slovakia

Loss of organic matter - peat soils Berkenwoude, The Netherlands; Örke, Sweden

Loss of organic matter - mineral soils Olden Eibergen, The Netherlands; Veneto region, Italy

Soil contamination Guadiamar, Spain; Copsa Micã, Romania

Loss of soil biodiversity Isle of Purbeck, United Kingdom˛

Biodiversity

SealingContamination

Compaction

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Dissemination of ResultsAs good communication is essential to optimise the value of research, the project results will be continuously disseminated through a dedicated RECARE Information Hub www.recare-hub.eu

This centralised website will enable public access to all project outputs by interested stakeholders, including farmers, advisors, industry, policy-makers, researchers and the general public. You can also follow us on Twitter @RECARE_EU and Vimeo http://vimeo.com/channels/RECARE

Start date: 1 November 2013, end date: 31 October 2018 (duration 60 months)

Contact AddressContact address: Wageningen University, Soil Physics and Land Management Group / ALTERRA, Soil Science Centre / Coen Ritsema, P.O. Box 47 • 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands.

T: +31 317 48 65 17 • F: +31 317 41 90 00 • E: Coen.Ritsema@wur.nl • www.recare-project.eu

The RECARE project is funded by the European Commission FP7 Programme, ENV.2013.6.2-4 ‘Sustainable land care in Europe’. EU grant agreement: 603498. Project officer Maria Yeroyanni.

The tasks of the RECARE project are specifically linked and defined within a conceptual framework for assessing, preventing and remediating soil degradation.

PROJECT PARTNERS1 Wageningen University,

The Netherlands

2 Technical University of Crete, Greece

3 Aarhus University, Denmark

4 University of Valencia, Spain

5 The Cyprus Institute, Cyprus

6 Norwegian Institute for Agriculture and Environmental Research, Norway

7 University of Aveiro, Portugal

8 Soil Conservation Service Iceland, Iceland

9 Evenor-Tech, Spain

10 Universitat Bern, Switzerland

11 Environment Agency Austria, Austria

12 ISRIC World Soil Information, The Netherlands

13 Joint Research Centre, Italy

14 Ecologic Institut Gemeinnutzige GmbH, Germany

15 Leeds University, United Kingdom

16 Stichting Dienst Landbouwkundig Onderzoek, The Netherlands

17 Corepage, The Netherlands

18 Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden

19 Institute of Natural Resource and Agrobiology, Spain

20 Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Slovakia

21 Research Institute for Soil Science and Agrochemistry, Romania

22 Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation – State Research Institute, Poland

23 University of Gloucestershire, United Kingdom

24 Research Institute for Knowledge Systems, The Netherlands

25 Cranfield University, United Kingdom

26 University of Padova, Italy

27 Kongskilde Industries, Denmark

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1...7 = RECARE main aims as described on page 2

Causative factors

Climate conditions and human activities as they affect soills

1

State of soil degradation

• Erosion• Salinization• Compaction• Sealing• Desertification• Floods and landslides• Decline in organic

matter• Contamination• Decline in soil

biodiversity

2

Soil Impacts

•Soilfunctionsandecosystem services

•Socio-economicconsequences

3

Land management responses

Local level• Participatory

development and testing of prevention, remediation and restoration measures

EU level• Applicability and effect

of measures across EU and associated Member States

Policies

Derive recommendations for improvement of existing national and EU soil related policies

4

5

6

7