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Innovative Approaches to Combat Soil Degradation and Restore Soil Health in the Mediterranean: Insights from SHARInG-MeD and SUS-SOIL Projects
By Professor Dr. Ibrahim Ortaş, Lecturer – Çukurova University, Faculty of Agriculture, Türkiye
SHARInG-MeD and SUS-SOIL Project Manager, iortas@cu.edu.tr
The European Community has declared that due to unsustainable land management, overgrazing, deforestation, and climate change, 60–70% of the soils in Europe, especially in the Mediterranean region, are degraded, and the situation is worsening. The depletion of soil organic carbon (SOC) poses a direct threat to soil health and food security. In addition to the extreme climatic conditions prevailing in the North African and Southern European regions, unsustainable land and water management, overgrazing, deforestation, and forest fires are transforming large parts of these areas into deserts (Ortas, 2022). In the long term, degraded and salinized soils significantly impact soil health and food security.
The EU has provided a strategic framework to protect and restore soil health in the Mediterranean. Recently, several extensive, large-scale projects have been initiated. I am personally involved in two of these projects: SHARInG-MeD and SUS-SOIL. SHARInG-MeD (Soil Health and Agriculture Resilience through an Integrated Geographical Information Systems of Mediterranean Drylands) focuses on addressing the declining potential of soil organic carbon, which is directly related to the threats to soil health. The project aims to develop a standardized soil monitoring plan integrating physical-chemical, biological (microorganisms, nematodes, invertebrates, and plants), and agricultural, economic, and environmental indicators. This will promote agricultural sustainability by informing policymakers, scientists, and end-users about the use of soil-agricultural indicators and their interrelationships in the Mediterranean region.
The SHARInG-MeD project has six main defined objectives;
1. To update the basic soil maps by performing basic soil analyses of soil samples covering unsampled areas.
2. To examine the role of land use and land use change on soil properties.
3. To fill gaps in the relationships between soil properties (e.g. salinity, SOC, pH), crop yields, and environmental and economic performance of crop production by analyzing the response of soil properties to crop management, productivity, and economic and environmental impacts.
4. To assess the drivers of soil degradation and to determine future measures.
5. Integrating science and communication experts in line with the purpose of the research, conveying the project’s objectives to the relevant parties and providing new planning by receiving feedback from them.
6. Promote sustainable agricultural soil management practices to improve soil functions.
The SHARInG-MeD project aims to provide agro-ecological approaches to the effects of land use on soil quality in Mediterranean agricultural areas. The project aims to model soil properties at a large scale; changes in soil properties down to the smallest detail; model the relationships between land or crop (especially soil) management practices and the environmental and economic performance of agricultural systems or crops; harmonize soil data between different public databases and disseminate soil improvement practices (conservation agriculture, organic material applications, use of beneficial microorganisms such as mycorrhizae and Rhizobium) in the Mediterranean drylands, especially in the South Europe, West Asia and North Africa (WANA) regions. These data and models will inform stakeholders about the use of these indicators and their interrelationships for sustainable management of Mediterranean landscapes and crops, thus improving agricultural sustainability and providing a tool to modulate the contribution of agriculture in reducing the impact of climate change. The advantages and limitations of these strategies (land use and land use change, soil conservation practices, organic matter and beneficial soil microorganism additions) and the Horizon Europe Soil Mission will be discussed through a Massive Open Online Course on the website, mass and social media activities, journals and scientific publications, photos and videos, congresses, secondary school courses, farmer training and project activities.
Model soil properties and their changes in detail. Analyze the relationships between soil management practices and the environmental and economic performance of agricultural systems. Promote soil improvement practices such as conservation agriculture, organic matter applications, and the use of beneficial microorganisms (e.g., mycorrhizae and Rhizobium) in Mediterranean drylands, focusing on Southern Europe, West Asia, and North Africa (WANA) (Orgiazzi, et al. 2018).
The project integrates sampling strategies from Europe’s LUCAS soil module and Africa’s H2020 Soil4Africa project to ensure harmonization. Sampling will focus on farmland, degraded areas (e.g., salinity-affected or overgrazed), and trials of soil restoration practices. Soil properties and greenhouse gas emissions will be measured, and economic flows and Life Cycle Assessment elements will be analyzed. Models developed under SHARInG-MeD and SUS-SOIL will be validated using data from national, EU, and non-EU research databases and infrastructures.
Conclusion and Expected Effects…
SHARInG-MeD addresses all the requirements of its specific topic, providing a framework for protecting, improving, and restoring soil health in Mediterranean drylands. The project outputs include:
Tools to measure soil degradation processes, yield losses, and environmental impacts.
Models and indicators for harmonized agro-soil health management. Validation of these models under real-world conditions. Syntheses of evidence on the current status of soil monitoring and data in the Mediterranean region. Frameworks for national soil survey harmonization in the Soil Atlas. Engagement with stakeholders for effective dissemination.
By focusing on degraded areas, SHARInG-MeD aims to develop basic management strategies that positively impact soil conservation, biodiversity, agricultural productivity, and environmental sustainability. International organizations, including FAO and the European Joint Research Center, are working on methodologies to collect and standardize soil information across Europe and the Mediterranean region. SHARInG-MeD and SUS-SOIL contribute to these efforts by providing innovative solutions to combat soil degradation and enhance soil health.
The project’s educational initiatives include offering courses on soil management to secondary school students, farmers, policymakers, and other stakeholders to highlight the importance of soil health for food security and sustainable living. These efforts will ensure that project findings contribute to local and international policy-making, agricultural sustainability, and climate change mitigation.
References…
Orgiazzi A, Ballabio C, Panagos P, Jones A, Fernández-Ugalde O (2018). LUCAS Soil, the largest expandable soil dataset for Europe: a review. European Journal of Soil Science 69:140-153
Ortas I (2022). The role of mycorrhiza in food security and the challenge of climate change. International Journal of Agricultural and Applied Sciences 3:1-11
