DE-1.2 :: Communication

The public is not well enough informed when it comes to the environmental medium of soil. Associations related to the topics of nature, planning and engineering are rarely connected. Also, public communication, as recently being supported by the “international year of soils”, is not able to inform and mobilize actors on the topic of land use in a ground-breaking way. In general it would be ideal, similar to the topic of climate protection, to touch upon measures and initiatives on the global level on the topic of soil protection. Through the explanation of the following questions, research should be able to contribute to this goal:
• How can new media and technology, for example social media with a “soil function app”, be used to engage with the broader public?
• What innovative evaluation instruments can support awareness raising (example sustainable shopping cart, ecological footprint “land” for food production, etc.)?
• Which existing and new instruments can be used to raise the understanding of land use decisions in the public realm and with which instruments and indicators/parameters can the transparency of the effects be measured? What is the influence on planning and permission granting decisions?
• How can science contribute to the dialog about the use interests of actors (for example between representatives of nature protection and agriculture), for example through the differentiated evaluation of large and small agricultural units as well as the regional context?

Communication issues are essentially related to all themes of the CM, but in particular to themes 1 “Resource demand and efficiency” and 3 “Land management” as these both are concerned with the direct demands and impacts of society regarding natural capital and ecosystem services, this means here communication can have immediate effects on soil, land use and land management.