Meta-analysis: Drivers of soil health across EU

This meta-analysis is conducted as part of SOLO (Soils for Europe), an EU´s Horizon Europe funded project and the results of the outcomes from this analysis is planned to feed into the other work packages to support the development of the co-creation and knowledge developing platforms for each of the eight EU soil mission objectives (soil erosion, land degradation, soil structure, soil sealing, soil organic carbon, soil literacy, soil pollution, and EU global footprint on soil) and with the addition of soil biodiversity. The driving force analysis in the SOLO project (Work Package 3) is built upon a comprehensive analytical framework which recognizes driving forces, pressures, state, impact, and response measures (DPSIR) as fundamental components of soil health. A scoping literature review is conducted to identify the drivers which will further feed into the analysis of the links between pressures (changes in soil and land management), and states (soil health objectives) and the respective impacts (ecosystem services). The literature review is divided in four parts based on different land use (urban and industrial, agriculture, forest, and nature) and is conducted in accordance with the PRISMA protocol. More than 40000 references have been scanned to filter out 451 relevant studies and to compile a list of drivers for soil and land use changes in the EU. The identified drivers across all land uses have been adjusted and standardised in in-person and online workshops. The set list of drivers is being used to filter the metadata and the presently filtered set of data is sorted according to the EU soil mission’s soil health objectives, land use, and location. The filtered data is compiled in excel to be uploaded in the repository to further support future use in research and publications.

Research domain: Other

Research question: None