Integrating Research Needs
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T1 / IRT-1
Integrated Environmental Assessment and Soil Monitoring for Europe
Long term monitoring to show changes in soil quality to levels impacting soil function, food security and human health and to measure progress on land degradation neutrality. ... read moreT2 / IRT-2
Recognizing the value of ecosystem services in land use decisions
Assessing magnitude and societal distribution of costs and benefits of land use options (e.g. through cost-benefit analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis or multi-criteria analysis) can help mainstream the value of ecosystem services into decision-making.... read moreT3 / IRT-3
From indicators to implementation: Integrated tools for a holistic assessment of agricultural and forest land use
A move away from segregated decision makers and scientific disciplines towards integration by location and across disciplines to assess the role of agricultural and forest land use types or climatic regions (e.g. Nordic, Mediterranean) in meeting societal demands and local socio-cultural backgrounds. Research will develop (regional or land use type specific) methodologies for an integrated assessment. ... read moreT4 / IRT-4
Bio-Economy – unleashing the potentials while sustaining soils
Unleash the potential of soil to sustain a bio-economy in Europe by better understanding soil and economic systems in order to support land management for biomass production and consumption. Alternatives to non renewable resources are needed. Soils can provide bio-based resources, but overuse must be prevented to sustain soil system functions. ... read moreT5 / IRT-5
Integrated scenarios for the Land-Soil-Water-Food nexus under societal pressures and challenges
Identification of land use scenarios that deliver benefits to society AND to the environment and lead to changes in soil management and spatial planning. Growing populations increase soil and land degradation thereby rendering the remaining scarce fertile soils vulnerable to overuse and further degradation. Scenarios modelling will help assess major impacts and decrease further degradation, secure food and identify ways of achieving land degradation neutrality. Changes in the economy and the society should estimate like growing / shrinking areas and their impact to the land-soil-sediment-water system .... read moreT6 / IRT-6
Indicators for assessing the efficiency of the Soil-Sediment-Water-Energy nexus of resources
national, regional, local authorities would benefit from a more global and informed vision of the utility (private and public) of their decisions if they were supplied with indicators helping to measure the consequences of their decisions on the natural resources. This “footprint” type of indicators will permit a statistical scoreboard to be used to analyze environmental impacts through the whole global economic cycle and thus better balance societal benefits and ecological effects of different resource-use options.... read moreT7 / IRT-7
Farming systems to maintain soil fertility while meeting demand for agricultural products
Understanding the potential of different agricultural food production systems while mainaining soil fertility and reducing negative environmental impacts associated with intensive conventional farming. Increased knowledge about economic and technical aspects of organic food porduciton systems will improve their competitiveness and help mainstream sustainable agricultural practices.... read moreT8 / IRT-8
Circular land management
Research is required to understand the patterns of behaviour and interdependencies of actors, especially land owners, active in land-related policy areas on a theoretical and practical level. It is important to combine the strategies and instruments by circular land management through applied research and pilot case studies and in the sense of modular “tool boxes” to qualify a sustainable land management. ... read moreT9 / IRT-9
Policies to effectively reduce land consumption for settlement development
Knowledge on how to design effective policies given the institutional constraints of their implementation and enforcement will be necessary to realize the benefits of reduced land consumption in rural and urban areas.... read moreT10 / IRT-10
Stakeholder participation to facilitate the development of livable cities
Understanding the potential of stakeholder participation will help to ensure the livability of urban development and enhance transparency and legitimacy of decision-making.... read moreT11 / IRT-11
Integrated management of soils in urban areas
Better understanding the role of urban soils in improving quality of urban space and consequently on health and living quality. ... read moreT12 / IRT-12
Environmentally friendly and socially sensitive urban development
Solutions that bridge the goals of urban environmental protection and social concerns of urban development are crucial to realize sustainable cities. Knowledge on environmental issues in urban planning as well as on social concerns is partly available but has to be deeper, up to date and better integrated. ... read moreT13 / IRT-13
Urban Metabolism – Enhance efficiency of using soil-sediment-water resources through closing of urban material loops
Without further development of the methodological concept of urban metabolism, it will be not possible to identify comprehensive measures to enhance urban resource efficiency, consistency and sufficiency. Urban metabolism instruments and tools are needed at different scales (local, regional, national and supranational) to address indirect impacts, such as rebound effects or indirect land consumption. Such new instruments and tools will help manage our common resource basis, minimize negative ecological effects, foster the local economy through a circular urban economy and support a long term, high level of urban quality of life. ... read moreT14 / IRT-14
Emerging contaminants’ in soil and groundwater – ensuring long-term provision of drinking water as well as soil and freshwater ecosystem services
Greater knowledge about the properties of ‘emerging’ contaminants, and mixtures, their distribution in groundwater and soil, their toxicity to humans as well as soil and freshwater ecosystem services is needed to ensure public health and long-term provision of ecosystem services. Methods of analyzing emerging contaminants are needed. ... read moreT15 / IRT-15
Sustainable management to restore the ecological and socio-economic values of degraded land
Dedicated research will elaborate degradation-type and region-specific restoration and rehabilitation approaches for valorization of degraded areas.... read moreT16 / IRT-16
Innovative technologies and eco-engineering 4.0: Challenges for a sustainable use of agricultural, forest and urban landscapes and the SSW system
Improved rural and urban land use through appropriate sustainable technologies, exploitation of comprehensive data collected by high-quality on- and off-site sensors, and purposeful communication. Eco-engineering for the design, monitoring and management of rural and urban ecosystems can integrate human society into the natural and man-made environment. Identifying what is a sustainable intensification via industrial or organic agriculture and forestry will help planning and permitting.... read moreT17 / IRT-17