Healthy Municipal Soils (HuMUS)

Framework: Horizon Europe — Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
Programme: Mission
Theme: Soil health and food
Destination: Soil health and food
Action type: Coordination and support actions
Countries involved: Italy,France,Germany,Spain,Netherlands,Belgium,Bulgaria,North Macedonia,Slovenia
Call: Engage with and activate municipalities and regions to protect and restore soil health (HORIZON-MISS-2021-SOIL-02, 2021)
Start date: 2023-01-01
End date: 2025-12-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 3276679.5
EU funding (EUR): 3276679.5
Participants: 18
Project status: SIGNED

The EU Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’ (Soil Mission) aims to lead the transition to healthy soils via sustainable soil management. This requires knowledge and awareness of the importance and value of soil health and its challenges and drivers across Europe. Engaging and activating municipalities and regions across Europe to protect and restore soil health is vital for a successful Soil Mission deployment. The creation of spaces for dialogue with Quadruple Helix stakeholders, including marginalized and/or vulnerable strata of the population, on soil health and land management issues may contribute to develop a shared understanding of the challenges and help co-create solutions for the protection and restoration of soil. Within this context, HuMUS main aim is to facilitate the deployment of the Soil Mission across regions and municipalities, through: (i) the creation and experimentation of spaces for social dialogue on soil health among public and private actors in Europe; (ii) the promotion of a shared understanding and co-assessment exercises of soil challenges (biophysical and socio-economic dimensions); and, (iii) the enhancement of knowledge sharing among municipalities and regions, including on the needed transformations in current S4 (Sustainable Smart Specialisation) strategies and the use of available EU funds to support the transition. HuMUS will support the involvement of stakeholders and citizens in the decision-making processes via case studies, educational and capacity building activities as well as exchanges of best practices at regional and local levels. HuMUS will further contribute to raising the problem awareness of regional and local governments, businesses and society at large through the use of the Bio-districts multi-stakeholder methodology, whereby well-informed local production and consumption patterns are planned in a coordinated way by all actors of the supply chain. HuMUS will particularly encourage social innovation and the implementation of a trans-disciplinary approach. At each partner territory, regional and local governments will be closely associated from an early stage in order to develop effective participatory processes, and stimulate extensive dialogues on soil health. Regions and municipalities will be empowered to reflect, deliberate and propose appropriate and realistic solutions together with citizens and stakeholders. HuMUS will create and manage collaboration opportunities and spaces of dialogue between citizens and other stakeholders (e.g. farmers and other land users) and public authorities to mutually benefit from discussions in HuMUS as well as from the latest developments and findings from European projects and networks. HuMUS will also support public authorities at local / regional level, associations of land managers (e.g. farmer associations), civil society organisations and research institutions throughout Europe to establish constructive dialogues on soil health, through the launch of an EU-wide Open Call aiming to provide funding to at least 20 exemplary pilot projects. Hence, HuMUS will also contribute to increasing knowledge sharing among municipalities and regions, matching needs with already available methods, tools and approaches for social engagement and knowledge valorisation. The consortium is composed of universities and research centres with experience in participatory approaches and multi-stakeholder associations with large coverage of EU, regional and municipal governance levels.

Keywords: soil literacy sustainable soil management ris4 regions and municipalities soil restoration soil protection public and private dialogue multiactor and multilevel approach co design