Browsing by Author "Cornu, Sophie"

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    Monitoring Systems of Agricultural Soils Across Europe Regarding the Upcoming European Soil Monitoring Law
    (Wiley, 2025) Mason, Eloïse; Cornu, Sophie; Arrouays, Dominique; Fantappiè, Maria; Jones, Arwyn; Götzinger, Sophia; Spiegel, Heide; Oorts, Katrien; Chartin, Caroline; Borůvka, Luboš; Pihlap, Evelin; Putku, Elsa; Heikkinen, Jaakko; Boulonne, Line; Poeplau, Christopher; Marx, Marc; Tagliaferri, Elisa; Vinci, Ialina; Leitāns, Lauris; Armolaitis, Kęstutis; van Egmond, Fenny; Kobza, Jozef; Wetterlind, Johanna; Drobnik, Thomas; Hirte, Juliane; Hefler, József; Smreczak, Bożena; Carvalho Gomes, Lucas; Humlekrog Greve, Mogens; Bispo, Antonio
    In Europe, 60%–70% of soils are considered degraded, underscoring the urgent need for consistent monitoring to prevent further degradation and support evidence-based policies for sustainable soil management. Many countries in Europe have implemented one or more soil monitoring systems (SMSs), often established long before the EU-wide “Land Use/Cover Area frame statistical Survey Soil”, LUCAS Soil program. As a result, their sampling strategies and analytical methodologies vary significantly. The proposed EU Directive on Soil Monitoring and Resilience (Soil Monitoring Law, SML) aims to address these differences by establishing a unified framework for systematic soil health monitoring across the EU. This paper assesses the compatibility of the 25 identified SMSs from countries participating in the EJP SOIL Program with the anticipated requirements of the SML. The analysis focuses on critical aspects, including sampling strategies, analytical methods, and data accessibility. Results show significant variability in SMS approaches, including sampling depth, monitored land uses, and analytical methods, which limit cross-system comparability. Despite challenges, opportunities for harmonization include aligning SMSs with the LUCAS Soil methodology, developing transfer functions, and adopting scoring systems for soil health evaluation. Enhanced collaboration and data accessibility are also emphasized as critical for achieving the SML's objectives. This research provides actionable recommendations to harmonise SMSs with the SML framework, promoting coordinated soil monitoring efforts across Europe to support the EU's goal of achieving healthy soils by 2050.
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    Review of Soil Threats and Soil-Related Ecosystem Services European Maps: Can We Use Them to Study Their Relationships?
    (Wiley, 2025-10-22) Reyes-Rojas, Jessica ; Montagne, David ; Saby, Nicolas P. A. ; Coblinski, João Augusto ; Pindral, Sylwia ; Medina-Roldán, Eduardo ; Lorenzetti, Romina ; Scammacca, Ottone ; Piccini, Chiara ; Borůvka, Luboš ; Cornu, Sophie
    The scientific concepts of soil threats (STs) and soil-related ecosystem services (SESs) are gaining importance and are fueling the debate on natural resources management and decision-making within the EU. The literature reports numerous assessments of individual STs and SESs at the European scale. However, a comprehensive overview of the patterns emerging from the relationships between STs and SESs is still lacking, which restricts the ability to limit soil degradation and its impact on SESs. In this article, we provide an in-depth analysis of existing European maps for three STs (soil organic carbon loss, erosion, and compaction) and four SESs (climate regulation and carbon sequestration, hydrological control, biomass production, and erosion control) and the feasibility of combining them to study their relationships. At the EU-level, 37 maps for these STs and 17 for these SESs were encountered. With the notable exception of erosion, these maps differ considerably in their conceptualization of STs and SESs, and in the indicators, methods, and databases used to assess them. In the current situation, the combination of individual maps of STs and SESs to study their relationships is rarely possible. Besides these limitations, we identify possible combinations and provide recommendations aimed at improving the compatibility between different STs/SESs maps. We conclude that there is a need for a more robust framework for conceptualizing STs/SESs and for systematically and precisely specifying the chosen indicators.
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    Stakeholders' Perspectives on the Current State and Transition to Sustainable Soil Management Across Europe
    (Wiley, 2025-10-02) Pulido-Moncada, Mansonia; Stone, Tiffanie Faye; Løvlund Bach, Jonna; Hvarregaard Thorsøe, Martin; Munkholm, Lars J.; Baratella, Valentina; Vanino, Silvia; Farina, Roberta; Chenu, Claire; Cornu, Sophie; Mason, Eloïse; Keesstra, Saskia; Herrmann, Anke M.; Barron, Jennie; Stenberg, Bo; Jarosch, Klaus A.; Mihelič, Rok; Mavsar, Sara; Gonçalves, Maria da Conceição; Castanheira, Nádia Luísa; Ortman, Tove; László, Péter; Ramler, David; Madenoglu, Sevinc; Ozcan, Hesna; Leppälä, Johanna; Ruysschaert, Greet; Gimeno, Benjamin S.; Huyghebaert, Bruno; Kasparinskis, Raimonds; Siebielec, Grzegorz; Świątek, Karolina
    Implementing sustainable soil management practices to enhance soil health is a priority in research and policymaking across Europe. There is a need to identify the main soil challenges faced by different European stakeholders and the critical threats limiting the adoption of sustainable management of agricultural soils. The present study analyses stakeholders' perspectives on key soil challenges, knowledge gaps, and priorities for agricultural soil research across partner countries that participated in the European Joint Programme on Soil (EJP SOIL) 2020–2025. Two complementary stakeholder activities—a survey and a workshop—were conducted across 24 partner countries (divided into four regions: Central, Northern, Southern, and Western Europe) of the EJP SOIL consortium in 2024. Among 10 pre-identified soil challenges, the findings highlight that maintaining or increasing soil organic carbon, avoiding soil sealing, and avoiding soil erosion are the top three priorities across Europe. However, the perceived prioritisation of soil challenges differed both between and within regions, reflecting each country's specific soil health context. Divergences in perceptions between practitioners and other stakeholder groups underscore the need to develop actions aimed at better understanding the rationale behind such discrepancies and how to overcome them. In addition, other key challenges for achieving sustainable soil management across Europe include limited funding, policy incoherencies, poor knowledge dissemination and co- creation, and insufficient soil monitoring. Environmental factors influencing soil health, including climate change, together with governance and economic models, were perceived to be critical limitations to the adoption of sustainable management of agricultural soils. This study also emphasises the need for a diversity of engagement methods, policies, and system approaches to support a transition towards sustainable soil management. These findings underscore the need for future research agendas that focus on integrated knowledge and participatory approaches, and strategies involving societal awareness and policy alignment—key elements that have also informed broader strategies involving societal awareness and engagement towards sustainable soil management in Europe.