Last week, TERRASAFE researcher Charlotte Chivers (University of Gloucestershire) joined a workshop hosted by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre to discuss ways to enhance soil literacy across Europe.
The workshop gave us a valuable opportunity to learn about other soil literacy-related activities, including work by Echosoil, Holisoils, HUMUS, betterSoil, PREPSOIL, UNESCO, LOESS, RESOIL, FAO, SOLO, ISRIC, CURIOSOIL, and the French Soil Society, among many others.
Presentations showcased a variety of initiatives and future plans—ranging from public events and targeted guidance to international collaborations—all aimed at helping to increase soil engagement and literacy across Europe.
We appreciated the chance to exchange ideas and hope to collaborate with several of these projects in the near future!
How is TERRASAFE strengthening soil awareness?
TERRASAFE hopes to advance soil literacy through our work with communities in areas of southern Europe and Tunisia that are vulnerable to desertification. Together with community members, and benefiting from their unique local insights, we will select and test innovative measures to combat desertification.
Land managers will participate in our experiments, effectively acting as ‘citizen scientists’ by monitoring soil in response to the measures with affordable, easy-to-use methods and characterising soil texture. These activities will help to boost soil literacy by giving land managers an opportunity to spend time learning about how to test their soils.
The project will also establish “desertification innovation partnerships,” helping to gauge current literacy levels and identify how to best support people as they learn about soil.
Further, TERRASAFE provides clear information for the wider public that emphasises the importance of tackling desertification for supporting food production and the environment, long in the future. We will also engage with soil-focussed organisations and projects to share insights, collaborate on evidence-based practices, and build alliances that encourage responsible soil stewardship in diverse settings.