Do we speak one language on the way to sustainable soil management in Europe? A terminology check via an EU-wide survey.

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dc.contributor.authorWeninger, Thomas
dc.contributor.authorRamler, David
dc.contributor.authorBondi, Giulia
dc.contributor.authorAsins, Sabina
dc.contributor.authorO'Sullivan, Lilian
dc.contributor.authorAssennato, Francesca
dc.contributor.authorAstover, Alar
dc.contributor.authorBispo, Antonio
dc.contributor.authorBorůvka, Luboˇs
dc.contributor.authorButtafuoco, Gabriele
dc.contributor.authorCalzolari, Costanza
dc.contributor.authorCastanheira, Nadia
dc.contributor.authorCousin, Isabelle
dc.contributor.authorElsen, Erik van den
dc.contributor.authorFoldal, Cecilie
dc.contributor.authorHessel, Rudi
dc.contributor.authorKadžiulienė, Zydrė
dc.contributor.authorKukk, Liia
dc.contributor.authorMolina, Maria J.
dc.contributor.authorMontagne, David
dc.contributor.authorOorts, Katrien
dc.contributor.authorPindral, Sylwia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1065-8004
dc.contributor.authorUngaro, Fabrizio
dc.contributor.authorKlimkowicz-Pawlas, Agnieszka https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4529-5274
dc.date.accessioned2024-04-03T14:29:41Z
dc.date.available2024-04-03T14:29:41Z
dc.date.issued2024
dc.description.abstractEuropean soils are under increasing pressure, making it difficult to maintain the provision of soil ecosystem services (SESs). A better understanding of soil processes is needed to counteract soil threats (STs) and to promote sustainable soil management. The EJP SOIL programme of the EU provides a framework for the necessary research. However, different definitions of soil-related terms potentially lead to varied understandings of concepts. Furthermore, there are numerous indicators available to quantify STs or SESs. As unclear communication is a key barrier that hinders the implementation of research results into practice, this study aimed to answer the question about whether the terminology of large-scale initiatives is adequately understood within the soil-science community and nonresearch stakeholders. An online questionnaire was used to provide definitions for 33 soil-related terms in both scientific and plain language, as well as indicators for seven SESs and 11 STs. Participants were asked to rate their agreement with the definitions and indicators on a seven-grade Likert scale. The level of agreement was calculated as the percentage of ratings above 4, the neutral position. The survey was available from June to September 2023 and was distributed by a snowball approach. More than 260 stakeholders assessed the survey; 70% of respondents were researchers, and 15% were practitioners. Mean agreement levels for the definitions and indicators were generally high, at 85% and 78% respectively. However, it was apparent that the lowest agreement was found for terms that are relatively new, such as Ecosystem Services and Bundle, or unfamiliar for certain subgroups, such as ecological terms for stakeholders working at the farm scale. Due to their distinct majority, the results of this study primarily reflect the opinions of scientists. Thus, broad conclusions can only be drawn by comparing scientists with non-scientists. In this regard, the agreement was surprisingly high across all types of questions. The combined outcomes indicate that there is still a need to facilitate communication between stakeholders and to improve knowledge distribution strategies. Nevertheless, this study can support and be used by future projects and programmes, especially regarding the harmonization of terminology and methods.
dc.description.sponsorshipThis research has been carried out within the framework of the SERENA project. SERENA (Soil Ecosystem seRvices and soil threats modElling aNd mApping) is an EJP SOIL internal project. EJP SOIL has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme: Grant agreement No 862695. Very special thanks go to the team of soscisurvey.de for freely providing the online-platform for survey design and execution for scientific use and DeepL.com for support in the translations.
dc.identifier.citation75:e13476.
dc.identifier.citationEuropean Journal of Soil Science 2024, Vol. 75, nr 2
dc.identifier.doi10.1111/ejss.13476
dc.identifier.issn1365-2389
dc.identifier.urihttps://bc.iung.pl/handle/123456789/1073
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherJohn Wiley & Sons
dc.titleDo we speak one language on the way to sustainable soil management in Europe? A terminology check via an EU-wide survey.
dc.typeArticle
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