Feed Editor 4 Jun 2013 10:27:20 GMT This Soil Portal contributes to a thematic data infrastructure for soils in Europe. It presents data and information regarding soils at European level. It connects to activities within JRC concerning soil (JRC SOIL Action). It serves also as a vehicle to promote the activities of the European Soil Bureau Network. Spatial data collection and processing within this infrastructure is performed according to emerging ideas behind the INSPIRE (Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe) initiative. Latest updates in the year 2010 The European Soil Portal keep updating all the interested parties with new UPDATES. Montly Newsletters are also available for downloading: May 2013: http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/utilities/newsletter/201305.pdf April 2013: http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/utilities/newsletter/201304.pdf March 2013: http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/utilities/newsletter/201303.pdf February 2013: http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/utilities/newsletter/201302.pdf January 2013: http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/utilities/newsletter/201301.pdf November 2012: http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/utilities/newsletter/201211.pdf December 2012: http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/utilities/newsletter/201212.pdf Please subscribe in the E-mailing list Eusoils in order to Receive the most updated news! Send an E-mail to panos.panagos@jrc.ec.europa.eu with the text: Subscribe me to Eusoils. http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ panos.panagos@jrc.ec.europa.eu Important Publication: This book is result of the workshop on "Extension of the European Soil Database" held in Izmir/Turkey on 14-15 May 2012. The country reports on the status of soil mapping and the development of national soil information systems were presented briefly and discussed in relation to the objective on extension of the European soil database and information system. The most recent extension studies cover Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan Cyprus, Egypt, Georgia, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia, and Turkey this book features country chapters, with contributions from 13 of the above-mentioned countries. 4 Jun 2013 14:19:39 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/eusoils_docs/other/EUR25988EN.pdf CDA872D9-1F6C-4A06-853E-14F546CB5A66 How you can contribute?: Pick one of your pictures on soil and its biodiversity and send it to us. Get more information about this Photo Contest (EN, FR, DE, IT) . The best selected pictures will be published in the forthcoming atlas.Taking pictures of soil biodiversity is not limited to soil-dwelling organisms. Here is a list of the four topics for the photos that you could send us: Soil organisms, Soil ecosystems, Threats to soil biodiversity, Awareness of soil biodiversity. 4 Jun 2013 14:19:20 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/InternationalCooperation/GSBI/index.html#GSBA AF70E41B-CEA6-4F1C-BAD3-90D7780BB89A Important activity for young scientists: The second training school of COST Action ES1104 will take place in Valenzano, Bari, Italy from 19-24 September 2013. 'Semi-Arid Land Management for Crop Production and Restoration of Man-made Soils' will be held at the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM) Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari (IAMB). Applicants must be graduate students, post-docs, or early stage researchers, and must be enrolled in or affiliated to an Institution located in a country participating in this COST Action (deadline: 12/7/2013). More Information: http://desertrestorationhub.com/funding-opportunities-for-second-training-school/ 4 Jun 2013 14:18:55 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/Awareness/Documents/Material/Bari-training-school.pdf 6910DCF8-09A0-4E2B-93B6-0404C03C7A99 The Soil Atlas of Africa, the first of its kind, uses striking maps, informative texts and stunning photographs to present the diversity of soil across the African continent. It explains what soil is, where it comes from, the unique characteristics of soils in Africa, the services soil provides to society and the environment, and how soil resources are affected by human activities. With its stunning full-colour maps and illustrations, it explains why it is so important to preserve this precious natural resource. The Atlas was produced by the JRC in collaboration with the African Union, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the African Soil Science Society and soil scientists from Africa and Europe. The aim of the atlas is to raise awareness at all levels, from politicians to the general public, of the significance of soil to life in Africa. With its stunning full-colour maps and illustrations, the atlas explains the diversity of soil across the African continent and explains why it is so important to preserve this precious resource. It analyses the major threats to soil and presents the steps needed to protect soil resources. You can download the Atlas. Physical copies of the book will be available through the EU Publications Office towards the end of May 2013 3 May 2013 09:10:29 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/maps/africa_atlas/ 742F3DFD-A892-4BF2-853F-C8812CF38B16 The ideal candidate should have a master degree in geography, geosciences or environmental science. Previous experience with spatial data management and GIS is an dvantage. Relevant publications and presentations should be highlighted 13 Trainee posts: http://recruitment.jrc.ec.europa.eu/?type=TR 3 May 2013 09:10:06 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/vacancies/Attachments/2013-IPR-H-000-1693.pdf 08775C7E-FE58-469E-921E-FB31D466D6C8 Economics of soils in (peri-)urban context Call for proposals: The European Environment Agency (EEA) envisages awarding a contract to a service provider for support on a project on the role of soils in contributing to, or adversely affecting, the functioning of (peri-)urban areas (delineated as urban morphological zones [UMZs]) in the EEA-39 (32 member countries and 7 cooperating countries), with particular focus on the economic ramifications thereof. More Information on the EEA site: http://www.eea.europa.eu/about-us/tenders/negotiated-procedures Deadline: 08/05/2013 Study supporting potential land and soil targets under the 2014 land communication The Directorate-General for Environment invites applications for its study supporting potential land and soil targets under the 2014 land communication. The main objective of this study is to assist the Commission services in setting up a suitable framework for measuring and tracking the status and progress on land-related aspects. Targets include land take, land recycling, EU land demand in third countries, land multi-functionality and similar concepts, as well as soil erosion and soil organic matter deadline: 10/6/2013 3 May 2013 09:08:48 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/utilities/calls/ 23FF2E2B-A602-486F-9B31-AB014E00ED04 The Global Soil Partnership of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) have the pleasure of organising this workshop in order to contribute to soil monitoring activities as a response to environmental challenges. The workshop will be held at the FAO Headquarters, located in Rome, Italy. The main aim of the workshop is to raise awareness among scientists, policy makers, farmers associations and soil practitioners about the possibilities that spectroscopy offers for checking soil status while reducing the need for traditional chemical analyses 3 May 2013 09:08:27 GMT http://www.fao.org/globalsoilpartnership/events/detail/en/c/174779/ 9A169F7D-5F42-42BF-B85F-797E743D51E7 For many applications of modelling environmental conditions or processes soil characteristics are needed in form of spatial data ready to be integrated in a GIS. A source of uniform data on characteristics of European soils is available from the European Soil Database (ESDB) of the European Soil Bureau. The soil information was collected by participating national institutions and underwent an extensive process of harmonizing the thematic content of recording the soil characteristics and ensuring spatial continuity along boundaries. In the database a many-to-1 link is used to relate soil characteristics to the geographic layer. Thus, considerably effort is required to represent specific soil characteristics in a single spatial layer. 3 May 2013 09:07:37 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/eusoils_docs/other/EUR25932EN.pdf 0A4857DD-D062-407B-91C9-2FE59503DA3F Important Event: The first GlobalSoilMap Conference will be held in Orleans, France, from 7 to 9 October 2013. The deadline for a one page abstract submission is 30 May 2013 – The selection of the papers (acceptance, choice between oral and poster) will be based on the abstracts and you'll be informed in June. A template for a full 6 pages paper to be edited in a book will be soon available on the website, and the deadline for full papers submission will be 31 July 2013. 17 Apr 2013 08:52:18 GMT https://colloque.inra.fr/globalsoilmap2013 431F92DF-A2F4-4009-9997-A5C94DFF8E7D Global development: The GSBA will coordinate an international network of scientists and policy makers in an effort to synthesize present knowledge of crucial taxonomic groups in soil, identify how soil biodiversity and its services can be measured across the wide range of ecosystems in the world, address vulnerabilities of soil biota and ecosystem services and recommend future management applications based on scientific knowledge. n the frame of the Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative, the SOIL Action (22004) of the Joint Research Centre's Institute for Environment and Sustainability is glad to announce that the writing of the Global Soil Biodiversity Atlas (GSBA) has been scheduled. The development of the GSBA will be coordinated by the SOIL Action itself. The list of Authors of the Global Soil Biodiversity Atlas is also presented. 17 Apr 2013 08:51:57 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/InternationalCooperation/GSBI/ 1E8BCD78-EB9B-4898-B27A-27F944397517 Interesting publication (Documentation for the Climate Change data): Indicators of climate change and extremes from regional models coming from the PRUDENCE project of the Danish Meteorological Institute, the consortial simulation of the Climate Limited-area Modelling Community and 12 runs of bias-corrected data from the ENSEMBLES project were processed. The resulting indicators were standardized to a common map projection, grid size and spatial extent to be directly available for further analysis or integration with other spatial data. The indicators were used in the data available from the European Climate Adaptation Platform (CLIMATE-ADAPT), the European Database of Vulnerabilities to Natural Hazards (EVDAB), the JRC activities within the FP7 RESPONSES project and support the evaluation of changes in soil organic carbon under climate scenarios. 17 Apr 2013 08:51:34 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/eusoils_docs/other/EUR25339EN.pdf 31331E30-14C6-45CA-AE43-932A4C0E590B Your feedback is needed: This survey is being conducted to allow us to assess the potential threats to soil biodiversity at global scale. The relative risk, correlated to both anthropogenic and non-anthropogenic pressures, for soil biota is indeed poorly known. Understanding how which factors impact soil life will be useful to measure and prevent possible future losses of biodiversity. The aim of this questionnaire is to provide a scored index for the main recognized threats to soil biodiversity. In order to reach this goal, we need the contribution from experts on soil biodiversity issues. The questionnaire consists of 3 questions and should take only 5 minutes to complete 17 Apr 2013 08:52:41 GMT http://www.ecofinders.org/mapping-of-threats.html FC723EFF-21A1-4684-9DAA-2CEAA7FB5A09 Vacancies: Development of a harmonized Northern-Eurasian soil information base for soil quality assessment: The ideal candidate should have a PhD in soil science, biology or related field with very good knowledge in spatial soil datasets or a minimum of 5 years research experience in soil science after the first degree giving access to doctoral studies. Deadline: 02/5/2013 More Posts of Grant Holders in Joint Research Centre expiring in different deadlines: http://recruitment.jrc.ec.europa.eu/?inst=3511&site=IPR&type=GH 17 Apr 2013 08:51:16 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/vacancies/ 52F87520-BB48-42BB-B718-F9AE8B342030 Interesting Dataset: Indicators of climate change and extremes from regional models coming from 3 sources: PRUDENCE project of the Danish Meteorological Institute, consortial simulation of the Climate Limited-area Modelling (CLM) Community, 12 runs of bias-corrected data from the ENSEMBLES project. Datasets refer to Temperature, Precipitation, Precipitation intensity, Relative Humidity, Aridity Index, HUMIDEX, Heat wave plus statistical indicators such as Min, Max, Percentiles and Standard deviation. The datasets are available after a prior re 4 Apr 2013 18:05:52 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects/CC_ICE/ 0EA8E595-963C-44AC-A9C4-FCE57DFDF331 Important Event UNCCD 2nd Scientific Conference: European Commission Joint Research Centre organises a CASCADE Special Session on how to overcome the difficulties of successful engagement of non-scientific stakeholders. Participants in UNCCD conference are invited to follow this special session, 11/4/2013 8:30-10:00. Bonn, Germany. CASCADE is an FP7 Project focusing on "Catastrophic shifts in drylands". More information on UNCCD Programme: https://www.conftool.pro/2sc-unccd/sessions.php 15 Mar 2013 12:21:25 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/events/Future_events/2013_UNCCD_CASCADE.pdf 10BCE1DA-0329-4488-8BCC-14F3B9927270 EIONET Meeting Minutes including the various discussions, conclusions and planned actions are now available 15 Mar 2013 12:21:05 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/data/eionet/Meeting10122012/EIONET_Soil_2012_workshop_report_v2.pdf 50DB610C-B84E-4062-9856-BA6C4472A2C2 Interesting publication: This European Environment Agency (EEA) report presents information on past and projected climate change and related impacts in Europe, based on a range of indicators. The report also assesses the vulnerability of society, human health and ecosystems in Europe and identifies those regions in Europe most at risk from climate change. Furthermore, the report discusses the principle sources of uncertainty for the indicators and notes how monitoring and scenario development can improve our understanding of climate change, its impacts and related vulnerabilities. The Soil Chapter has been drafted by the JRC SOIL Team (pages 146-157) 15 Mar 2013 12:20:41 GMT http://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/climate-impacts-and-vulnerability-2012 8FA6F082-FEE0-4523-B8B3-17682AE43661 Call for Proposals: The seventh LIFE+ call for proposals was published on 19 February 2013, with up to €278 million available for co-financing of projects under three headings: Nature and Biodiversity (NAT), Environment Policy and Governance (ENV) and Information and Communication (INF). Deadline: 25/06/2013 15 Mar 2013 12:20:20 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/utilities/calls/index.cfm 89ABC6B2-6709-49C1-810F-FBAAEE18B068 Event Announcement: The International Conference BCD2013 "Biochars, Composts and Digestates. Production, Characterization, Regulation, Marketing, Uses and Environmental Impact" will be held in Bari, Italy, from 17 to 20 October 2013, presided by Prof. Nicola Senesi of the University of Bari. The Conference will focus on and develop the various scientific and applied aspects of biochar, compost and digestate science and technology, including field approaches and implications in a sustainable environment. The Conference will be scheduled in four general sessions and a number of special sessions. The 1st Circular is now available in the Conference website (www.bcd2013.eu), where detailed information can be found, including the General Provisional Programme, the Call for Proposals to convene Special Sessions, the Call for Abstracts, the Registration fees, all deadlines, and much more. Any interested person is cordially invited to visit the BCD2013 website, and encouraged to submit Abstract(s) (deadline 31 March 2013) through the appropriate form available in the Conference website. For more details visit www.bcd2013.eu. 15 Mar 2013 12:19:57 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/events/Future_events/BCD2013.pdf 13808000-E9DB-4529-B138-92745BD90DB3 New content: The European Soil Portal has updated the Soil Biodiversity pages with new "Fresh" information. The updated page includes information on Definition of soil biodiversity, Methods for studying , Role of soil biodiversity, Brief history Value and importance of studying soil biodiversity. 15 Mar 2013 12:19:18 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/themes/Biodiversity/ A3EA0527-0687-4862-8E15-5788FD8D530E New dataset: This newly available raster map, called ELSUS1000, shows levels of spatial probability of landslide occurrence in EU member states and neighbouring countries at 1 km resolution. The map has been derived through spatial multicriteria evaluation based modelling using pan-European datasets on slope angle, lithology, and land cover, along with over 100,000 landslide locations. It has been produced jointly by BGR, JRC, CNRS-EOST and CNR-IRPI, and is freely available from the European Soil Portal together with a number of ancillary spatial datasets. 15 Feb 2013 09:37:08 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/themes/Landslides/index.html#ELSUS D38A4AA8-C6FC-49FC-94D1-022537242A07 Vacancies: Modeling Wind Erosion at European scale: The ideal candidate should have should have a Ph.D. in soil erosion preferably in wind erosion modeling or a minimum of 5 years research experience in wind erosion modeling after the first degree giving access to doctoral studies Digital soil mapping and land use modeling: The ideal candidate should have a Ph.D. in soil science preferably in digital soil mapping and land use modelling or a minimum of 5 years of research experience (digital soil mapping and land use modelling) after the first degree giving access to doctoral studies Deadline: 10/3/2013 27 Posts of Grant Holders in different deadlines: http://recruitment.jrc.ec.europa.eu/?inst=3511&site=IPR&type=GH 15 Feb 2013 09:36:37 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/vacancies/ 56F39B93-511F-4419-9E9E-99CF667CE038 Contract Agents Competition: At the request of the European Commission (EC) and in particular the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) is launching a selection procedure to set up a database of successful candidates from which to recruit research contract staff (Contract Agents FGIV) with the aforementioned profiles for the provision of additional capacity. If you have a sound track record of research in Natural Sciences; Quantitative Sciences; Human and Social Sciences; Agricultural, Environmental and Earth Sciences; Health Sciences, you can make all the difference within the JRC's stimulating multicultural environment. Deadline: 1/3/2013 15 Feb 2013 09:36:19 GMT http://europa.eu/epso/apply/jobs/cast/2013/cast_jrc/index_en.htm 19A068E3-04A9-4604-8E0F-1B26E1986976 Policy development: After 2.5 years of work, the INSPIRE Thematic Working Group on SOIL is in a position to release the INSPIRE soil data specifications ('Technical Guidelines'). It is a document that has been the basis for some new European legislation (INSPIRE Implementing Rules) that describes the structure in which national authorities that hold soil data must make their data available to the public. The final proposed legislative act still needs to be voted by the so-called INSPIRE Committee (on 4 April 2013) and then approved by European Council/Parliament. So during summer 2013, it is expected that the new regulation will entry into force. This will have of course consequences for the holders of soil data in Europe. The regulation is quite dry text and fairly difficult to understand for people not familiar with INSPIRE matters. The Technical Guidelines makes the legislative text more approachable. 15 Feb 2013 09:36:03 GMT http://inspire.jrc.ec.europa.eu/documents/Data_Specifications/INSPIRE_DataSpecification_SO_v3.0rc3.pdf 831664EE-95DB-492F-8BA7-63AFC7C3B867 Meeting output: On 22-23 October 2012 DG RTD organised a meeting of European Commission services with the FP7 project Coordinatos in Urban Issues, Soil Biodiversity, Desertification and Land Degradation. Those projects have been funded by the Environment Programme of DG RTD, Unit "Management of Natural Resources". The Projects presentations during this meeting are now available. During the 2-days meeting 21 Projects have been presented in 4 different sessions: Urban soil (4): TIMBRE, CityChlor, HOMBRE, LUPIS Soil Biodiversity (3): SOILTREC, EcoFINDERs, SOILSERVICE Urban Risks and urban development(5): SUME , BRIDGE, CLUVA, SECOA, URBAN-NEXUS Desertification and Land Resources Management (9): SMARTSOIL, CASCADE, DESIRE, PRACTICE, UNDESERT , CATCH-C, VOLANTE, DESURVEY, LEDDRA 15 Feb 2013 09:35:01 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects/Eufunded/MeetingCoordinators.html 4BA8E26B-A042-4CC7-A123-B3D3B022C95E Research Report: This report provides a detailed review of existing national landslide inventories as well as of a number of regional inventories in EU member states and neighbouring countries. For national landslide databases, it also analyses their ability to provide landslide susceptibility, hazard and risk assessments at national scale. In addition, the report proposes improvements in landslide databases for delineating areas at risk of landslides in agreement with the EU Soil Thematic Strategy and its associated Proposal for a Soil Framework Directive, and for achieving interoperability and harmonisation in agreement with the INSPIRE Directive. 15 Feb 2013 09:34:28 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/eusoils_docs/other/EUR25666EN.pdf 6586F903-7E78-415E-AA20-E3CCDC4396C8 Meeting output: This workshop was held at JRC Ispra from 10 to 12 December 2012, organized by the Institute of Environment and Sustainability (IES) of the JRC. Representatives from EIONET member countries have been invited to the meeting together with representatives from the European Environment Agency (EEA) and DG Environment to discuss the soil information and data flow between the interested parties during the period 2009-2012. The workshop dealt with the following issues: it reflected on the last two data collection exercises held in 2010 (soil organic carbon/soil erosion) and 2011 (contaminated sites); it discussed how possible new soil data requirements specified by DG ENV and EEA (as main customers) could be matched with contributions from EIONET National Reference Centres for Soil and an outline of the road ahead was agreed for the short term. The presentations of the EIONET Workshop Soil 2012 (held here in JRC Ispra last December) are now available. 15 Feb 2013 09:34:03 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/data/eionet/Workshop2012.html EF4A00A6-5336-44B7-B6CF-8046995A74A1 Dataset available for download: Wind erosion is the transport of soil particles by wind and forms part of the degradation process on arable land by segregating the soil particles. Number of Erosive days: The dataset provides an overview of the geographic spread of areas prone to wind erosion. This dataset shows the 30 year average soil erosivity according to climatic conditions (e.g. wind velocity) and the erodibility of the soil (e.g. texture). A layer of aggregated data of mean values calculated for the 'Wind erosion - number of erosive days' at NUTS3 level is also available. Agriculture Field Parameters on NUTS-3 regions for Wind erosion research: The dataset contains averaged Field Size, Field Orientation, Field Length, Average Number of Images, Percentage of Large Fields and Length to Width Ratios for the EU 27 Memberstates and Switzerland, aggregated to NUTS region. The analysis is based on approximately 400 satellite images from the IMAGE2000 archive. 16 Jan 2013 08:12:07 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/themes/erosion/winderosion/ 529311D5-8603-4CAF-94BE-7F0BE189DB39 Vacancy: Trainee in "Inventory of Contaminated Sites in Europe" (only for Turkish citizens). The ideal candidate should have a master degree in chemistry, physics, engineering or environmental science. Previous experience with contaminated sites management is an advantage . Duration: 12 - 24 Months Deadline: 18/2/2013 16 Jan 2013 08:11:43 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/vacancies/Attachments/2012-IPR-H-TUB-1083-1.pdf 54914176-9AFB-44EC-8897-4A880AD9FA8B Policy Implementation: The Work Programme 2013 for SOIL Action is Available. Deliverables and Objectives of the Action are included. 16 Jan 2013 08:11:19 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/jrc_soil/WP/WP2013.pdf 5880EE5E-205F-445A-A181-4C31DCE7A248 Awareness Raising Events: Summer of Soil is a 5-week, multi-disciplinary accelerator program designed to awaken and inspire a collaborative movement to rebuild and maintain living soils. The program will include a series of hands-on soil-related Courses, an exhibition of regenerative growing practices and the 5-day Living Soil Forum for bringing conversation to action. 99% of our food comes from our soil. 25% of this soil as already been degraded to the level where it can no longer support food production. We are losing 10 million hectares of fertils soil each year. That is 30 soccer fields per minute. Agriculture is responsible for 75% of soil degradation. The FAO, European Union and others recognize the importance of soil and warn for the negative influence of unsustainable agriculture and soil management on the health of our soils and food security. Venue: 7 JUL - 9 AUG 2013, Järna, Sweden 16 Jan 2013 08:11:06 GMT http://www.summerofsoil.se/ 90E2FD59-4C60-4365-A937-7FDEFC0B6F38 Awareness Raising: The Plaggic Anthrosol (Plaggenesch) has been selected as Germany's "Soil of the Year 2013". The German name Plaggenesch combines the terms "Plaggen" and "Esch". "Plaggen", or sods, are flat blocks of soil material with its above herbal or shrub or grassy vegetation and felted roots, shallowly scraped with a hoe or a spade. 16 Jan 2013 08:10:37 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/Awareness/Documents/Material/SoiloftheYear_2013.pdf 9BDE23B1-C658-4F35-AC20-B1D9C25F24DB A number of open vacancies in environmental (and soil-related) fields. Posts are available in International Organisations such as European Commission, Joint Research Centre, ISRIC, and other organisations/universities, etc. 16 Jan 2013 08:09:52 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/vacancies/index.cfm D098C0A7-5C33-4D85-A936-D315AA0E753D Interesting project: CASCADE is assessing current biophysical conditions in healthy, partly-degraded and strongly degraded selected plant-soil systems at study sites in Portugal, Spain (2), Italy, Greece and Cyprus. Then it will determine the effects of imposed drought on plant-soil ecosystem functioning, including facilitation and competition between plants, and how these processes affect plant resource use, survival and growth. Four sites are examining overgrazing and its effects, and the remaining 2 look at the effects of wildfires changing forest to shrub. CASCADE partners responsible for the study sites met in Italy recently to refine ideas for the planned experiments. The number and location of plots have been agreed, plus common guidelines for all measurements and sampling procedures for the plants and soils. CASCADE research will be featured in a workshop at the UNCCD 2nd Scientific Conference in Brazil in February 2013. For more information about CASCADE research visit: http://www.cascadeproject.eu/ 16 Jan 2013 08:09:34 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects/cascade/ A1DA722A-AE6C-410E-8877-241CFD1D4256 Data new version: The first EFSA Spatial Data set (Version 1.0) consisted of 52 spatial layers and was made available in May 2011. Some users commented on inconsistencies in the data, mainly with respect to the spatial characteristics of various layers. The JRC reprocessed all thematic layers from their respective sources. This task resulted in an update to the previous data, hereafter referred to as EFSA Spatial Data Version 1.1. This dataset was supplemented with data from the CAPRI land cover database. 29 Nov 2012 16:41:59 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/Data/EFSA/ 3B5394D1-A7A3-425F-86D3-F715E914B687 Important event: The first Global Soil Week gathered over 400 representatives of governments, scientists, international organizations, business and civil society in Berlin, Germany, from 18-22 November 2012, to consider the theme "Soils for Life." The event took place within the framework of the Global Soil Partnership and served as a platform to initiate follow up on the land and soil-related decisions in the outcome from the June 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20). It was organized by the Global Soil Forum, which was established by the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) Potsdam 29 Nov 2012 16:41:41 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/InternationalCooperation/GSP/Documents/GSW.pdf 259340CC-16C8-4C7A-9581-85A3CC815600 Important Publication: The first ever SOIL ATLAS OF AFRICA uses striking maps, informative texts and stunning photographs to answer and explain these and other questions.Leading soil scientists from Europe and Africa have collaborated to produce this unique document. Using state of the art computer mapping techniques, the Soil Atlas of Africa shows the changing nature of soil across the continent. The Soil Atlas of Africa explains the origin and functions of soil, describes the different soil types that can be found in Africa and their relevance to both local and global issues. The atlas also discusses the principal threats to soil and the steps being taken to protect soil resources. The Soil Atlas of Africa is more than just a normal atlas. Rather, this volume presents an interpretation of an often neglected natural resource that surrounds and affects us all.TheSoil Atlas of Africa is an essential reference to a non-renewable resource that is fundamental for life on this planet. The Publication of Atlas is planned for early 2013. An introduction to the Soil Atlas of Africa presented at the European Parliament's session 'Land and soil degradation post Rio+20', on November 9th 2012 (hosted by Sandrine Bélier, MEP). 21 Nov 2012 08:39:07 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/maps/africa_atlas/index.html DE7DA4B4-F32E-4A29-8F69-3AD52512D953 This Important workshop: "Towards Global Soil Information: Activities within the GEO Task Global Soil Data" The objective of the workshop was to review the state of the art of tools and techniques for mapping soils at global and regional scales as an input for defining future activities under the implementation of the Global Soil Partnership. The meeting concluded that the e-SOTER project was successfully completed and that a wealth of information was gathered during the project, both in the selected study areas and for Europe overall. It was also decided that the eSOTER findings would be applied for the whole of Europe at 1:1 million scale, which would serve as input for a new version of the Harmonized World Soil Database. The final report and the presentations are available. 21 Nov 2012 08:38:43 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects/esoter/FinalMeeting.html ECF0001B-BD11-437C-A142-990233091759 This Important workshop, organized by JRC, will discuss the soil information and data flow between the interested parties.and will deal with the following issues: it will reflect on the last two data collection exercises held in 2010 (soil organic carbon/soil erosion) and 2011 (contaminated sites); it will discuss how new soil data requirements specified by DG ENV and EEA can be matched with contributions from EIONET NRCs for Soil, and it will discuss and outline the road ahead. 21 Nov 2012 08:38:23 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/data/eionet/Workshop2012.html DDA2A491-83F9-4FF7-A286-5446F862E8CB Important event and new policy developments: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is organizing a technical workshop in the framework of the Global Soil Partnership on: "Managing Living Soils" , 5- 7 December 2012, Rome, Italy. FAO, with the support of the European Commission, launched the Global Soil Partnership (GSP) in FAO headquarters in September 2011 to raise awareness of decision makers on the vital role of soil resources for achieving food security, adapting to and mitigating climate change and guaranteeing provision of environmental services. The Vision of the GSP is to improve global governance of the limited soil resources of the planet in order to guarantee healthy and productive soils for a food secure world, as well as sustain other essential ecosystem services. FAO Proposal to observe World Soil Day annually on 5 December: The Council may wish to: a) endorse the Observance of the World Soil Day (5 December) as a valid platform for raising awareness on the importance of soils for food security and ecosystem functions; b)request the 38th Session of the FAO Conference (June 2013) to endorse the proposal to establish 5 December as World Soil Day, and to request the Director-General of FAO to formally request the Secretary-General of the United Nations to table the proposal at the General Assembly of the United Nations. 21 Nov 2012 08:37:59 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/InternationalCooperation/GSP/index.html#events F5E0FD05-B359-44FD-929B-CA8A28948359 Important data collection: In 2010, the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (JRC), which is charged with the collection of soil data at European scale and hosts the European Soil Data Centre (ESDAC), conducted a project to collect data on Soil Organic Carbon(SOC) and soil erosion in Europe using the European Environment Information and Observation Network for soil (EIONET-SOIL). The data submitted by participating countries are their best estimate and represent an official point of view. The technical approach taken allows a country to easily update the records when new data become available. Regarding SOC, the cell values had to express the OC density (t ha-1) in the soil for the depth range of 0-30cm (including the organic H horizons) and the gravimetric SOC content (in %) in the cell for the same depth range. The EIONET data providers were also requested to include explicit meta-data that would allow the correct interpretation of the cell values. The information requested in the meta-data include the period of the ground survey(s), the method used for a spatial interpolation of point data and the land use types covered. The results of the SOC analysis are presented in this page. 23 Oct 2012 09:45:45 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/data/eionet/DataCollection.htm 5223F88B-CC11-49A0-80E7-C013B37D5336 7th Framework Programme for Research calls relevant to soils and Remote sensing. The current Space Call (Activity: 9.1 Space-based applications at the service of European Society) can be interesting for the Soil community and Remote sensing scientistis in two specific activities: a) SPA.2013.1.1-06: Stimulating development of downstream services and service evolution (GMES downstream service): Projects should be strongly user driven and take into account user needs concerning information and services, quality specifications, and orient themselves along existing guidelines established in previous GMES projects and by advisory bodies at European level. Targeted activities: "Agriculture and agri-environment, crop monitoring, precision farming" and "Soil organic carbon monitoring". b) SPA.2013.1.1-07: Remote sensing methods: hyper-spectral information, Soil spectral libraries, key soil properties (e.g. carbon and clay content), hyperspectral remote sensing products for the extraction of topsoil properties. Deadline: 21/11/2012 23 Oct 2012 09:39:42 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/utilities/calls/index.cfm 828F5E80-7A98-43FD-887D-065F900BB1B4 Interesting Conference: The conference will review the state of science, identify tools for enhancing Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) sequestration and recommend means to bridge the gap between science, policy and action. Among topics to be discussed are land use and land restoration practices that enhance SOC, how to verify carbon sequestration and linkages with UN-FCCC and post-Kyoto goals, agreements, and negotiations. The question of how to increase flow of climate linked funding for restoration of soil and land quality will also be explored. Venue: Reykjavík, Iceland during 26-29 May 2013 23 Oct 2012 09:39:27 GMT http://scs2013.land.is/ 0B3C9D7A-27EF-42F7-8215-DFCF8AF35335 Interesting GMES publication: The potential of GMES for crisis management and environmental monitoring is highlighted in a new publication with users demonstrating the importance of Earth observation data to European regions. Download the NEREUS-ESA joint publication: "The Growing Use of GMES across Europe's Regions. Among the GMES 67 case studies in European regions, the article about soil erosion in Central Macedonia is listed. 21 Oct 2012 09:32:33 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects/Geoland2/index.html#GMES 4BDF7986-4BAD-41E5-A6BF-59123F923773 Interesting Science Report:Will there be enough plant nutrients to feed a world of 9 billion in 2050? is the central question addressed by a JRC study. This exercise was based on consultations with experts and a thematic workshop focused on three areas of interest: 1) the demand for fertilizers to sustain crop production necessary to feed the world in 2050; 2) perspectives on the supply of Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P) and Potassium (K) to world agriculture and 3) the role of innovation and technology in changing the match between demand and supply of fertilizers. Implications of the main findings for current EU and international policies were addressed. "There is no specific reason to be alarmed about the overall supply of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus for the world's agriculture but because of changing conditions in production, demand and use, continuous vigilance is called for." 21 Oct 2012 09:32:02 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/eusoils_docs/other/EUR25327.pdf 90847F24-9A3B-48C4-A59B-9D2D5E406514 Information News: The Food and Agriculture Organisation(FAO) has launched the Global Soil Partnership(GSP) website. The website provides news about the 5 pilars of this action, the Terms of Reference and information on how to become a Partner. The GSP has as a mission to develop capacities, build on best available science, and facilitate/contribute to the exchange of knowledge and technologies among stakeholders for sustainable management of soil resources at all levels 21 Oct 2012 09:31:17 GMT http://www.fao.org/globalsoilpartnership/home/en/ 841FB18C-923A-43B5-909A-6F92DFF33E06 The European Landslide Expert Group has recently finished version 1 of the ELSUS1000, the 1 km resolution Classified Landslide Susceptibility Map of Europe. This map is complying with EU's Soil Policy and aims to replace all previous continental scale landslide susceptibility assessments since it was prepared and evaluated using a large set of pan-European landslide information. By the end of the year the ELSUS1000 (together with ancillary data) will be made available in grid format through JRC's European Soil Data Centre (ESDAC). The map will be accompanied by a confidence level map. More details will follow. 21 Oct 2012 09:30:55 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/themes/Landslides/wg.html 64E56A0B-1D39-40B2-8C86-32D5D0013410 Scientific publications: The SOIL team has published 13 peer reviewed publications during 2011. Find them below: - A quantitative review of the effects of biochar application to soils on crop productivity using meta-analysis - Carbon in European soils - Soil loss rates due to piping erosion - Equilibrium versus disequilibrium of barchan dunes - European digital archive on soil maps (EuDASM): preserving important soil data for public free access - Regional mapping and characterisation of old landslides in hilly regions using LiDAR-based imagery in Southern Flanders - Characterisation of productivity limitation of salt-affected lands in different climatic regions of Europe using remote sensing derived productivity indicators - Are grasslands important habitats for soil microarthropod conservation? - Assessing Soil Processes and Function across an International Network of Critical Zone Observatories: Research Hypotheses and Experimental Design - An Evaluation of the Short-Term Progress of Restoration Combining Ecological Assessment and Public Perception - Evaluating the Effect of Nutrient Levels of Major Soil Types on the Productivity of Wheatlands in Hungary - Multi-scale European Soil Information System (MEUSIS): A multi-scale method to derive soil indicators - Prediction of spatial patterns of collapsed pipes in loess-derived soils in a temperate humid climate using logistic regression 21 Oct 2012 09:29:56 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/eusoils_docs/doc_pub.html A0A55993-88E5-40F7-A3CD-84FB3CFE3856 Rainfall erosivity (R-Factor) dataset for Switzerland based on 71 stations and 22 years of measurements. Regression-kriging was used to interpolate the rainfall erosivity values of single stations and to generate a map for Switzerland. Users can download/use an executable application (algorithm was implemented in C programming language) which calculates the R-Factor based on rainfall (10 min resolution) and temperature (1 h resolution) data. The code is subject to modification in case the users have different resolution data. 4 Sep 2012 17:48:13 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/themes/erosion/RainfallErosivity/ DF901D77-8F44-47A8-809D-A673EFC752B4 Announcement of an Award: To encourage new concepts of protection and their implementation and to enhance awareness of the importance of land and soil in connection with good agriculture and environmental conditions. This prize will reward professionals working in the area of land use and soil management pursuing the EU's soil protection goals, in particular those of the Soil Thematic Strategy. The call is also available in other languages (FR, DE, ES, IT, PT): http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/utilities/calls/index.cfm 28 Aug 2012 11:02:09 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/Utilities/calls/Documents/LandSoil_AwardEN.pdf 43F1B743-E479-4E8E-BA00-ADD63F5BAB85 Interesting dataset: Biochar Meta-analysis Database is being made publically available in order that the meta-analysis can be updated as new results become available. The matrix table is also available for download as a reference, to increase the ease at which studies can be found which have been attributed to each group. The Meta-analysis includes results from worldwide experiments testing the effect of biochar on crop yields. Their quantitative meta-analysis showed a 'grand mean' yield increase of 10%, while it also highlighted a high degree of variation and the need for a strategic research effort to allow elucidation of mechanisms 28 Aug 2012 11:01:45 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects/Biochar/ 8EC7DD77-03B1-474F-AC7F-F7BF64675646 Interesting dataset: A landslide inventory is the most important information source for quantitative zoning of landslide susceptibility, hazard and risk. It should give insight into the location, date, type, size, activity and causal factors of landslides as well as resultant damage. In Europe, many countries have created or are creating national and/or regional landslide databases. Yet little was known on their contents, completeness, format, structure, language use and accessibility, and hence on their ability to perform national or transnational landslide zoning. To fill this knowledge gap, Van Den Eeckhaut and Hervás (2012) performed a detailed analysis of existing national landslide databases in the EU member states, EU official candidate and potential candidate countries, and EFTA countries, and their possible use for landslide zoning. 28 Aug 2012 11:01:06 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/themes/Landslides/Inventories.html 93258192-ECDE-40C2-977F-6E6E8ECD62AC Looking for a post-doc? Time to change Job?: A number of vacancies are published in the European Soil Portal. The Institute for Environment and Sustainability, Joint Research Centre has published postDocs and PhD posts with various deadlines in September. Find also vacancies from other organisations such as INRA (National Institute for Agronomic Research), University of Amsterdam ....etc 28 Aug 2012 11:00:40 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/vacancies/ 2D535DC5-EC0E-48B4-9B08-782096290A4F Important Event: The Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) Potsdam and its partners will host the First Global Soil Week (GSW) to take place in Berlin at Scandic Hotel Potsdamer Platz on 18-22 Nov 2012. The IASS's Global Soil Forum conceived the GSW as an international multi-stakeholder event on land and soils and their sustainable governance/management. It will offer a forum of interactive exchange and dialogue where stakeholders from science, government, business and civil society will come together to share their land/soil related experience and expertise and to develop plans of action for the future. The GSW will be an annual event and the point of assembly on the globe's soil issues. The First GSW will take place within the framework of the FAO's Global Soil Partnership and will provide a platform to initiate follow-up actions on land and soil-related decisions made at the Rio+20 Sustainable Development Conference. 17 Jul 2012 15:29:31 GMT http://www.globalsoilweek.org/ B57A151B-F607-4C91-BE85-9B3518BCA9D9 Interesting Inventory: A list of 36 soil-relevant projects which have been financed by the 6th and 7th Framework Programme for Research during the last decade. The list provides includes links to the project websites and to the major deliverables of those projects. Other types of Projects (LIFE+, eContentPlus, ....) are also included. The list will be updated with new upcoming information. 17 Jul 2012 15:28:53 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects/Eufunded/Eufunded.html 3CE3493A-C170-471C-B8D4-65C12DE85E2F Important Event: The aim of this conference is to highlight the growing importance of conserving and restoring soil organic carbon for a multiple of win-win benefits within various land type and land use settings. Carbon has a crucial role in soil fertility, and hence for food security, nutrient and water retention, biodiversity and ecosystem services. The conference will review the state of science and further knowledge needs involved. Among topics to be discussed are land use and land restoration practices that enhance SOM, how to verify carbon sequestration and linkages with UN-FCCC and other global goals, agreements, and negotiations. The question of how to increase flow of climate linked funding for restoration of soil and land quality will also be explored. 17 Jul 2012 15:28:36 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/events/Future_events/SOILCARBONSEQUESTRATION2013.pdf 513761B2-22A5-4681-A663-EA0DD9D81E82 7th Framework Programme for Research calls relevant to soils (or land) - FP7-ENV-2013-one-stage : Mobilising environmental knowledge for policy and society, etc - FP7-ENV-2013: TWO-STAGE Land cover and land-use change and climate change mitigation , Transition to sustainable, low-carbon societies, Sustainable land care in Europe , Development of advanced technologies and tools for mapping, diagnosing, protecting and managing cultural landscapes in rural areas, Urban biodiversity and green infrastructure , etc Download the Work Programme 2013 - Environment (including Climate Change) Deadline: 16/10/2012 17 Jul 2012 15:28:19 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/utilities/calls/index.cfm F91D286E-E953-49B8-98E3-A2C183AA18F3 Press Release: Making drylands more resilient with a CASCADE of new research People who live in drylands know that they can cope with scarcity of water up to a point, but sometimes their way of life becomes just too difficult to continue. It is the same with natural and agricultural ecosystems. Plants and animals need water and also tend to depend on one another to some extent. If environmental stresses become too much they may die back. Then if vegetation cover in the landscape is reduced and the soil is not protected from potential erosion, land degradation and desertification may result. Sometimes the resilience of landscapes is stressed to a tipping point and adverse changes then follow quickly. At the moment little is known about the connections between environmental stresses and catastrophic shifts. 17 Jul 2012 15:28:02 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects/cascade/Resources/CASCADEpressRelease.pdf 61871404-BED6-4D27-9A76-F67FC4D450DD Interesting Project: JRC held a Workshop on "NPK: Will there by enough plant nutrients to feed a world of 9 billion in 2050" ( Brussels, 5-6 December 2011). This event was attended by a group of experts from academia, industry, policy DGs and JRC Institutes. The workshop examined a broad range of issues related to the adequate provision of fertilizers to support future world agricultural production. This topic represents a key factor in the overall question of global food security as we go towards a population of 9 billion. The presentations of this important event are available. 17 Jul 2012 15:27:38 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects/NPK/ 1FD9E236-B921-4587-AFCD-5234D6B44255 Soil in Rio+20 : We would like to bring to your attention the following Rio+20 side events related to soil: - Securing Healthy Soils and Stopping Land Degradation: Outcomes for Rio+20 , World Day to Combat Desertification Global Observance Event , Sunday 17 June 2012, 10:30-19:30 - Towards a truly Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative (GSBI) , Sunday, 17 June, 2012 8:00-11:00 - Goals for Healthy Soils and the Role of the Global Soil Partnership , Wednesday 20 June 2012, 19:00-20:30 Agendas and programmes are available. We invite you to distribute this message to relevant contacts, particularly your colleagues participating to the Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development. 15 Jun 2012 17:08:35 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/events/Conferences/Rio20.html 80E0174E-DA1A-4BB1-91AA-8F62501D6961 Geoland-2 Training event: SOIL Action of the JRC in collaboration with the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki have organised a training for G2-model soil erosion end users and potential new users promoting the services developed within Geonad-2 and more particular the AgriEnv services. The training took place in Thessaloniki (Greece) , 29 May 2012 and has been attended by 15 scientists and national policy makers from all over Greece. The Training material is available for download. 15 Jun 2012 17:07:29 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects/Geoland2/Training.html 0C50CE95-F649-425A-A3CB-744145DB1C0E International Conference: The conference intends to draw the attention on current developments in the field of land take and soil protection and to make local and regional stakeholders aware of sustainable soil and land management. It will give a picture of the ongoing activities at EU level and of the implementation of the relevant legal provisions on the Alpine and on the national levels. Venue: 26th and 27th September 2012, Innsbruck, Austria 15 Jun 2012 17:07:09 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/events/Future_events/AlpineConvention.pdf 37DDEBAD-8E04-4918-9144-209B10D81A6D Interesting Workshop: This workshop follows the tradition of the first workshop held in Andermatt, Canton Uri, Switzerland in 2007 in bringing together scientist and stakeholders to discuss scientific results and perspectives on soil erosion in the Alps. In the 2012 workshop we address a broader perspective considering other alpine states and international views. Venue: 13th and 14th September 2012, University Basel, Switzerland 15 Jun 2012 17:06:44 GMT http://www.bodenerosion-alpen.ch/ 94DDE447-46EC-4C54-ACBF-6CC3B1ED2B39 Open Vacancies: PostDoc in "Assessment of Member States' Methodology for the Identification of Areas with Significant Natural Constraints" (Deadline: 17/6/2012) PostDoc in "Development of the Global Atlas of Soil Biodiversity" (Deadline: 8/7/2012) In total, there are 13 Posts open in the Insitute for Institute for Environment and Sustainability (1 post Cat 40, 10 Posts Cat 30, 1 Post Cat 20, 1 Trainee post). More information and how to apply 6 Jun 2012 16:48:35 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/vacancies/index.cfm 27DF07F5-FAE6-40D5-8EC5-05C7219D9227 New development: The European Commission, Joint Research Centre is working on the new version of the Soil Geographical Database of Eurasia and this new version will include countries from Mediterranean, North Africa and Caucasus. In this context, we have organising a workshop to discuss about soil data from new countries, action plans and future cooperation. The meeting was held in Turkey/Izmir, 14-15 May 2012 as a joint workshop with 8th International Soil Science Congress on "Land Degradation and Challenges in Soil Management". In this workshop, we had participants from Turkey, Tunisia, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Lebanon and Jordan. Participants from Malta, Egypt, Israel, Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Palestine Authority, Syria, Iraq, Armenia, Georgia have been also invited but couln't joint the workshop for various reasons. The results/country reports of the workshop and contributions of the experts will be combined and published in a book. Contributions from the missing countries are also welcomed. 31 May 2012 15:58:36 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/ESDB_Data_Distribution/extension.html 0C021C0E-EDE6-43FE-8233-AF58CA1FD455 Awareness raising: In the international classification: World Reference Base (WRB) peat soils are classified as Histosols. Peat soils contain more than 30% organic material (They show a typical dark-brown to black color. Depending on their conservation status, the peat-forming plant residues are more or less visible to the naked eye. The subsoils of peat soils can consist of sand, silt, loam and clay or of special, in lakes deposited materials, the mud. Depending on their parent material, mud can look white (lime mud), olive green (liver mud from algae) or dark brown (clay mud). 23 May 2012 15:57:33 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/Awareness/metadata.cfm?id=39 620AA24A-9EC1-4EFC-A4D6-9B73F17C426F Important Report:This report which presents the results of the RAMSOIL project is published. The general objective of the RAMSOIL project was to provide scientific guidelines on possibilities for EU wide parameter harmonization based on detailed information on current risk assessment methodologies of soil threats encountered within EU Member States. In RAMSOIL current risk assessments methodologies used in the EU are collected and evaluated. The results are summarized in this book. Currently, there are various risk assessment methodologies (RAMs) and the question has risen to what extent these RAMs yield similar outcome and, if not, whether the outcome can be harmonized, i.e. whether the results of the various RAMs can be made compatible or comparable. In this study i) the current status of RAMs for erosion, soil organic matter decline, compaction, and salinization in the European Union (EU27) is reviewed, and ii) the need and the options for harmonization are assessed. The need for harmonization was defined as the likelihood of achieving different outcomes when using different RAMs, whereas the options for harmonization refer to the efforts that are required to harmonize soil RAMs. 10 May 2012 15:00:43 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/eusoils_docs/Images/EUR24097.pdf FE445A75-15AF-47AB-8537-0B549C1DAA22 Call for Tender: The objective of this service contract is to carry out a number of physical and chemical analyses (including preparation of samples) on the 2,100 soil samples collected in Bulgaria and Romania in the context of the LUCAS 2012 survey. 31 May 2012 15:58:07 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/utilities/calls/index.cfm 691D38B9-612B-415D-A77A-013D21A00E0B Interesting call: The objective of this tender procedure is to develop a single software tool for calculating the predicted environmental concentrations of substances and their transformation products in soil in support of an EFSA Guidance Document for predicting environmental concentrations of PPPs in soil. The software tool will be based on an analytical model for which both the concepts and the mathematical equations are described in the Opinion containing the science for scenario selection and scenario parameterisation for predicting environmental concentrations of plant protection products in soil. Deadline: 18/6/2012. 25 Apr 2012 15:00:11 GMT http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/tenders/tender/cftefsapras201203.htm C6B9E065-F7AF-47C3-AA1D-2629AA9C451E Interesting call: The sixth LIFE+ call for proposals was published in the Official Journal (2012/C 74/08) on 13 March 2012. Under the Environment Policy & Governance component and for the policy area 'Soil', the Commission invites: demonstration activities at regional, provincial or municipal level to limit, mitigate or compensate for soil sealing; expanding the knowledge base concerning soil degradation processes; and developing and implementing land use practices and techniques, particularly in farming and forestry production processes, which protect and improve the status of soil. Under the Information and Communication component, the Commission invites communication actions and awareness raising campaigns to, inter alia, increase the awareness and knowledge about the importance of soil and soil biodiversity and its many ecological functions, and sustainable land use. Deadline: 26/9/2012. 20 Apr 2012 14:42:05 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/utilities/calls/index.cfm 47561880-1E3D-401B-A49E-BF857B071206 Policy developments: The first concerns the 7th Environment Action Programme (7EAP), 2012-2020, which will run until 1st June 2012. Environment Action Programmes have guided the development of EU environment policy since the early seventies. During this period, environment legislation was consolidated and completed to cover almost all environmental media, with the exception of soil. Against this background, the Commission is considering how a 7th Environment Action Programme could best provide added value in the rapidly evolving environment policy context. The purpose of this consultation is to collect the views of all stakeholders, at EU and national level, and the public at large on the environment policy priorities up to 2020. Informed opinions are sought on the priority areas to be addressed and on the most effective tools for the EU to employ in addressing the challenges described in the consultation document. Comments are invited from citizens, organisations and public authorities. 4 Apr 2012 14:41:31 GMT http://ec.europa.eu/environment/consultations/7eap_en.htm DB7E9E23-4652-4C95-82EA-6B8038BDD7FB Important Global Dataset: Organic carbon density (t ha-1) datasets for the topsoil (0 – 30cm) and the subsoil layer (30 – 100cm) from the amended HWSD are made available to the public users. The Global Soil Organic Carbon estimates are available in 2 different grid resolutions (ZIP compression): a)Raster layer with resolution of 30 arc second (which corresponds to a grid size of approx. 1km x 1km at the Equator and b) Raster layer with resolution of 5 arc minute (which corresponds to a grid size of approx. 9km x 9km at the Equator). The data are in Idrisi format. They are freely available upon request. 22 Mar 2012 11:01:14 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/octop/Global.html C405EB9F-DC72-487B-95D8-70C76C9B4D62 Important Report: Global estimates of soil organic carbon stocks have been produced in the past to support the calculation of potential emissions of CO2 from the soil under scenarios of change land use/cover and climatic conditions (IPCC, 2006), but very few global estimates are presented as spatial data. For global spatial layers on soil parameters, the most recent and complete dataset is available as the Harmonized World Soil Database (HWSD). The amended HWSD was compared to data from 4 other global data sets on SOC stocks. The comparative evaluation has demonstrated that bulk density is the most important factor for estimating SOC stocks and mainly responsible for the differences between estimates. Most affected from the variability in bulk density are SOC stocks in areas with soils which are high in organic carbon. 22 Mar 2012 11:00:57 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/eusoils_docs/Other/EUR25225.pdf 7DF27706-5012-473B-8583-B0D81C3A37BE Call for interest for Trainees: The SOIL Action is compiling a new Soil Atlas of Latin America as part of the EUROCLIMA programme of the European Commission. The successful candidate will be in charge of the final editing and publication of this new major reference atlas for Latin America. Four(4) other vacancies are also available in various units in the Institute for Environment and Sustainability (Deadline: 12/4/2012) 22 Mar 2012 11:00:32 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/vacancies/index.cfm F31225CB-800A-4D1A-B550-B36BE4B86E44 Call for an Award: The award is open to individuals or groups of people. Entries from junior academics in universities or consultancy are especially welcome. Entries will be judged on innovation, potential contribution to cost savings, technical applicability and plans for communication and market availability, applicable to contaminated land 13 Mar 2012 12:02:43 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/utilities/Announcements/TechnologyAward2012.pdf 7CCFC5DA-2846-48C8-A3E4-84B678BC6ACF State of Soil in Europe: This report published by the JRC and the European Environment Agency provides a comprehensive overview of soil resources and degradation processes. The core of this report was prepared for the Assessment on Soil, which forms part of the 'The European Environment - state and outlook 2010 Report' (SOER) 20102, coordinated by the European Environment Agency (EEA). This Reference Report uses data from the European Soil Data Centre (ESDAC), managed on behalf of EU institutions by the JRC. The information also helps European citizens to better understand, care for and improve Europe's environment. The soil assessment was one of a set of 13 Europe-wide thematic assessments of key environmental themes and the only one coordinated by the JRC. 16 Feb 2012 12:18:29 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/eusoils_docs/other/EUR25186.pdf F8AC6753-37B0-4B55-A673-A2630DBF2F9B Important Policy Development: Some five years after the adoption of the Soil Thematic Strategy, on 13 February 2012 the European Commission published a policy report on the implementation of the Strategy and ongoing activities (COM(2012) 46). The report provides an overview of the actions undertaken by the European Commission to implement the four pillars of the Strategy, namely awareness raising, research, integration, and legislation. It underlines that at the March 2010 Environment Council a minority of Member States blocked further progress on the proposed Soil Framework Directive and that the proposal remains on the Council's table. It also presents current soil degradation trends both in Europe and globally, as well as future challenges to ensure protection. Available in all EU official languages under http://ec.europa.eu/environment/soil/three_en.htm 16 Feb 2012 12:18:00 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/jrc_soil/policy/ 7690E6B1-3E50-4B6F-AE91-840CD6694A5C Important Policy Event: The Environment Directorate-General of the European Commission will host a high-level conference on 'Soil remediation and soil sealing' in Brussels (Belgium) on 10-11 May 2012. The conference objective is to highlight the importance of tackling soil contamination at an early stage and the opportunities that that offers to the European remediation industry. Moreover, it will underline how addressing contaminated sites and brownfields can be helpful in limiting land take and soil sealing, which continues in many parts of Europe at alarming rates often at the expense of fertile agricultural lands. At the conference the Commission will present its Soil Sealing Guidelines, which are being finalised. The participation to the conference is free of charge but will be limited to 400 people on a first-come-first-served basis (Registration OPEN). 14 Feb 2012 13:32:26 GMT http://ec.europa.eu/environment/soil/conference_may2012.htm 744912D1-1909-40BC-BB0C-CCAD704C5B96 European Maps Metadata: SOIL Action (JRC) is making an effort to make Soil Legacy data and information available for the public users. In that regard, the European Digital Archive of Soil Maps (EuDASM) has been updated with new Metadata and Maps from 21 countries: Azerbaijan (3), Belarus (8), Belgium (19), Croatia (6), Cyprus (17), Czech Republic (12), Estonia (1), France (32), Georgia (2), Hungary (63), Italy(76), Kazakhstan (6), Moldova (1), Norway (19), Poland (21), Portugal (33), Romania (22), Russian Federation(17), Serbia (3), Slovakia (8), Ukraine (3). The whole EuDASM collection includes around 6.000 maps from 141 countries (available for free download). The impact of EuDASM archive is presented in the paper: European digital archive on soil maps (EuDASM): preserving important soil data for public free access 14 Feb 2012 13:31:58 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/maps/country_maps/Metadata.cfm 9F057006-4E61-4E30-B05B-C54569E1EF82 Interesting Data updates: The updated global carbon map improves upon the rather coarse data on soil carbon (IGBP-DIS 2000) that were used in UNEP-WCMC’s Carbon and biodiversity: a demonstration atlas (Kapos et al. 2008). A global map of estimated soil carbon stocks to 1m depth was generated based on the soil organic carbon and bulk density values included in the HWSD (FAO/IIASA/ISRIC/ISS-CAS/JRC 2009). 10 Feb 2012 13:28:40 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/octop/Global.html DFB97ADC-2219-46C3-BA62-6FE33FE728F2 Interesting Data updates: Version 1.2 now contains SOTER/SOTWIS data for Tunisia and adds fields for the bulk densities reported by the source datasets (WISE/SOTWIS/ESDB) in addition to the reference bulk densities that have always been available in the HWSD. 10 Feb 2012 13:28:18 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/soil_data/global.htm 35D5729C-86D5-4B47-90E1-A035D96C6ED8 FP7 Project: The project Sustainable Soil Upgrading by Developing Cost effective, Biogeochemical Remediation Approaches (project acronym UPSOIL) is a Collaborative Project carried out under the 7th Framework programme, Theme 6 “Environment (including climate Change)” by an international consortium composed of research institutions and SMEs from the remediation sector. 10 Feb 2012 13:27:49 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects/upsoil/UPSOIL_Press_Release_December_2011.pdf 951C2459-DF63-41A1-BC2F-279DC19998E5 Awareness Raising: This calendar and the related Soil Atlas of Latin America and the Caribbean are initiatives under the EUrocLIMA Programme, which aims to encourage cooperation between Latin America and the European Union on climate change issues. ES: Este calendario, y el “Atlas del Suelo de América Latina y Caribe” del que surge, son iniciativas en el marco del Programa EUROCLIMA, que tiene como objetivo fomentar la cooperación entre América Latina y la Unión Europea en materia de cambio climático. PT: Este calendário e o correspondente Atlas de Solos da América Latina e do Caribe săo iniciativas do Programa EUrocLIMA, que busca fortalecer a cooperaçăo entre a América Latina e a Uniăo Europeia nas questőes relacionadas ŕs mudanças climáticas. Find also the Portuguese version of the Calendar 31 Jan 2012 08:08:36 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/Awareness/calendar2012_ES.html 2807C9AE-8695-4472-B8A3-034AF51B8D41 Interesting Global Event: The Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative will host its first Open Meeting immediately after the Planet Under Pressure Conference in London, England. We encourage all, including Planet Under Pressure attendees, to join us at the ExCel Center, London(UK), Friday March 30th 9:00am - 3:00 pm to discuss the future direction of the GSBI. We are particularly interested in your input during a working session where we will identify examples of why soil biodiversity matters, identify the available data that supports these examples, and determine the priorities for next steps for the Initiative 31 Jan 2012 08:08:04 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/InternationalCooperation/GSBI/Documents/GSBI-OpenMeeting-Announcement.pdf FCA76A75-A5C1-4C87-8FB5-560DBB15D068 Interesting Global Event: Strengthening of Soil Data and Information is one of the main pillars of action of the FAO Global Soil Partnership. Knowing the state of the art of Global soil data and information for serving different users demands is a crucial activity. This will then allow the global community to develop a coordinated joint plan of action for generating the required data and information in the coming future. Is in this regard that the Global Soil Partnership together with the EU-funded e-SOTER Project (coordinated by ISRIC) are organizing a one week workshop “Towards Global Soil Information: activities within the GEO Task Global Soil Data” at FAO Headquarters in Rome, Italy from 20-23rd March 2012. Keynote presentations addressing the state of soil information globally and the needs for soil data and information by users will be followed by a number of presentations by most of the different ongoing soil mapping initiatives. Then a hands-work session for developing a plan of action of the GSP pillar will be devoted. 31 Jan 2012 08:07:17 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects/esoter/index.html#events B257C93E-5414-4490-934C-199176E25DB0 Policy Implementation: The Work Programme 2012 for SOIL Action is Available. Deliverables and Objectives of the Action are included. 31 Jan 2012 08:06:35 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/jrc_soil/WP/WP2012.pdf 8C8A7775-E42F-4DEC-8B7A-810893855A1D Call for proposal: The goals of this research are to increase knowledge on how agriculture and forest can contribute to climate change mitigation. The 3 following scales are included: (i) processes (know more about emission/sequestration of GHG in agriculture and forest), (ii) evaluation of production systems (how to integrate climate into evaluation schemes as LCA) and a (iii) territorial design (how to organise agriculture and forest at local scales to mitigate climate). Soil is a crucial compartment at any of those scales (e.g. C stocks, N emissions, effects of practices). 5 Jan 2012 08:05:56 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/Utilities/calls/Documents/Reacctif.pdf 7B78852F-B38C-43E6-BAA1-7D64E62C4F35 Awareness Raising: This calendar and the related Soil Atlas of Latin America and the Caribbean are initiatives under the EUrocLIMA Programme, which aims to encourage cooperation between Latin America and the European Union on climate change issues. The main partners are the European Commission (Joint Research Centre and Development and Cooperation – EuropeAid Directorates-General), the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations and scientists from soil science institutions from Europe, South America and the Caribbean. The calendar aims to bring the soils of the region to the attention of everyone who deals with this critical non-renewable, natural resource that is vital for food and fibre production, a range of ecosystem services and sustainable development. 22 Dec 2011 09:35:44 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/Awareness/calendar2012.html 842DC482-B39D-4A1B-999A-16D1D4FDECE5 Important Open Call: To encourage new concepts of protection and their implementation and to enhance awareness of the importance of land and soil in connection with good agriculture and environmental conditions Eligibility: This prize will reward professionals working in the area of land use and soil management pursuing the EU's soil protection goals, in particular those of the Soil Thematic Strategy. Dealine: 31/12/2011 22 Dec 2011 09:35:22 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/Utilities/calls/Documents/LandSoil_Award.pdf 5186C3B6-E130-4C11-93D9-7467101C9C1C Important Awareness Material: Find 2 illustrations of High resolution for raising awareness! The Major Soil Types of Europe: Supporting the European Union’s Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection. The Major Soil Types of Nothern Circumpolar Region: A contribution to the International Polar Year 2007-2009 22 Dec 2011 09:29:12 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/Awareness/SoilTypes.html D84A2264-43A9-463B-A6B9-FE0435BB4F25 Research Article: The approach described in this ARTICLE has been developed through presentation and discussions within the European Soil Bureau Network. Resources for achieving better soil protection are limited and need to be effectively targeted. Spatial variability is high for soil types and related quality and for the risk of degradation because of the threats of organic matter decline, erosion, compaction and salinization. A framework is presented for mapping priority areas for soil protection based on assessing where there is greater risk of degradation and evaluating its acceptability. A conceptual model is proposed which links anthropogenic hazards, threats and the risk of degradation with soil functions. It is recommended that a set of test areas is defined according to dominant soil types, and the probabilities of changes to soil properties relevant to soil functions are then estimated 22 Dec 2011 09:28:55 GMT http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1475-2743.2011.00375.x/abstract 41329B91-5F76-4C26-BC19-F60749C82FF8 Open Vacancies: 3 doctoral positions in global greenhouse, Future flood risk in Europe, Global forecasting of hydrological extremes (Cat 20 Grant holders) 26 Post-doctoral positions in all scientific units (Cat 30 Grant holders) 1 Grant holders in Crop modelling for food security monitoring (Cat 40 Grant holder) Dealine: 17/1/2012 2 Dec 2011 09:28:35 GMT http://ies.jrc.ec.europa.eu/Job-opportunities/open-calls/call-for-grantholders.html 072BF748-BC9B-4BD2-88E8-3E7F39D6AE79 Data for Download: One key parameter for soil erosion modelling is the soil erodibility, expressed as the K- factor in the commonly used soil erosion model USLE (Universal Soil Loss Equation). The K-factor is related to crucial soil factors triggering erosion (organic matter content, soil texture, soil structure, permeability). We calculated soil erodibility using measured soil data, collected during the 2009 LUCAS (Land Use and Cover Area frame Survey) soil survey campaign across the member states of the European Union. The soil erodibility dataset overcomes the problems of limited data availability for K-factor assessment and presents a high quality resource for modellers who aim at soil erosion estimation on local/regional, national or European scale. Data are available on request. 23 Nov 2011 13:51:47 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/themes/erosion/Erodibility/ 4430B689-FB7E-46A9-AE5B-EC6314A81FBC Interesting Event: From 12th to 15th June, 2012 the 7th EUropean Congress on REgional GEOscientific Cartography and Information Systems (EUREGEO) will be held in Bologna, Italy. It continues the innovative collaboration in the field of Earth Sciences and Information Systems started in 1994 by the European regions of Bavaria, Catalonia and Emilia-Romagna. Once again it will serve as a platform for experts from regional and national geological surveys, universities, research institutes and economists, bridging the gap between scientific research and practical application. Deadline for Abstract Submission: 31/1/2012 23 Nov 2011 13:50:40 GMT http://www.regione.emilia-romagna.it/wcm/geologia_en/Sections/EUREGEO.htm 94D3C172-9715-4B34-9F55-F62D1BDAD497 Interesting Forum: The Forum was held at FAO headquarters, Rome on 3-7 October and gathered 860 delegates from all over the world. It was organized by the International Consortium on Landslides (ICL) within the International Programme on Landslides (IPL), a thematic platform on landslides including ICL, UNESCO, FAO, UN-ISDR, WMO, UNU, ICSU, IUGS and many research and land management institutions. JRC was main convener of the largest session of the Forum (L04 - Landslide inventory and susceptibility and hazard zoning). The submitted papers will be published in proceedings by Springer. During the Forum JRC’s Institute for Environment and Sustainability received the award as World Centre of Excellence on Landslide Disaster Reduction, together with a number of institutes around the world, on the theme "Research on landslide risk management harmonisation in support to European Union policy making". More Info: http://www.wlf2.org 25 Oct 2011 13:50:21 GMT http://www.wlf2.org/ 411DD3F7-DFBA-42ED-864B-0D274285CE36 Open Vacancies: Integrated assessment of soil ecosystems in drylands - soil biodiversity (Cat 20) Development of modelling tools and scenario analysis to predict the quantitative effects of different mitigation measures on soil organic carbon stocks in agricultural soils (Cat 30) Next generation digital soil map of the world - Digital Soil Mapping (Cat 30) Assessment of soil erosion in Europe under different land use and climate change scenarios(Cat 30) More Information: http://ies.jrc.ec.europa.eu/call-for-grantholders (Total 4 doctoral positions and 30 post-doctoral positions in Institute for Environment and Sustainability, Joint Research Centre , ISPRA(VA) 10 Oct 2011 18:37:06 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/vacancies/ 0D4C5097-D010-43A1-AA8F-E5ABD004BC9E Interesting scientific report: Improved terrestrial carbon management offers tremendous potential for climate change mitigation and, in many cases, there are associated co-benefits such as increased productivity, resilience, and biodiversity. In January 2011, the Institute for Environment and Sustainability of the Joint Research Centre organized an inter-service meeting on “Monitoring, Reporting and Verification systems for carbon in soils and vegetation in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries” with the objective of refining its long-term research agenda in that domain. This was achieved in the light of the needs of the Directorates-General involved in the development and environment policies namely DEVCO, ENV, CLIMA, ENTR, RTD and AGRI as well as of the recent evolution of the UNFCCC negotiations. This report encompasses the proceedings of the meeting together with the conclusions and recommendations to JRC work program stated by the invited experts and policy-makers from the different relevant DGs. 10 Oct 2011 18:36:46 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/eusoils_docs/other/EUR24932.pdf 550E3BD9-03E3-49B4-8F00-7639D81964BD Scientific report published as PDFs. Those important EUR scientific reports have been scanned and made available to the public. - Land Information Systems: Developments for planning the sustainable use of land resources (ESBN Report No 4) - The use of pedotransfer in soil hydrology research in Europe (ESBN Report No 3) - Soil Databases to support sustainable development (ESBN Report No 2) - European Land Information Systems for Agro-environmental Monitoring (ESBN Report No 1) 10 Oct 2011 18:35:37 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/eusoils_docs/doc_ESBN.html 4270067D-6008-4AAA-B3D0-C4BB5AFFB0E3 Important International Cooperation: This initiative, now open to all interested in sustaining soils, was formed based on growing international concern by scientists, policy makers and the public over the status of the world’s soils and increased recognition that the life in soil is key to sustaining our food production, ecosystem maintenance and control of global atmosphere and climate warming. The GSBI will serve as a primary means of informing the newly announced Global Soil Partnership signed in Rome earlier in September by three international conventions. Press Release (27/09/2011): Colorado State University Announces the Launch of the Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative 28 Sep 2011 18:35:14 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/InternationalCooperation/GSBI/ A94FE99F-594B-4352-8A63-EB8986A46FB3 iSOIL (Interactions between soil related sciences – Linking geophysics, soil science and digital soil) project is an FP7 one dealing with new technologies for assessing soil properties along depth accurately and with high resolution by combining existing sensors as well as exploring emerging technologies (mainly geophysical). iSOIL has generated a wealth of data (maps and associated data sets) integrated for the Nine (9) main project field sites that can be used by other scientists. Most of the data are Geophysics Gamma Spectrometry, EM38DD, Magnetics, etc. 27 Sep 2011 15:52:29 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects/isoil/data.html 6CBA6AB0-6BB4-4040-98EA-A9737F2D5F44 Meta-data Analysis & Data: Biochar Meta-analysis Database is being made publically available in order that the meta-analysis can be updated as new results become available. The matrix table is also available for download as a reference, to increase the ease at which studies can be found which have been attributed to each group. 26 Sep 2011 14:04:16 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects/Biochar/ 39EC21C2-B46D-4F77-88A2-90FA8A9D8101 Interesting Study: DIGISOIL WP 6 presents the scientific outputs of the DIGISOIL project (Scientific papers, Conferences, contribution to handbook.....). 26 Sep 2011 14:04:00 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects/Digisoil/Documents/Digisoil%20-%20D6.1-3.pdf 89631B7F-DE64-4325-8325-7C0BD31AD5FF Invitation: This interactive workshop will provide practical demonstrations and displays of a range of awareness raising initiatives produced by the different members of the ESBN team. The workshop will also include a structured open discussion to capture constructive views on the exhibits on display and about awareness raising in general. The overall objective of the workshop is to increase the capacity of scientists working in education and awareness raising across Europe and to encourage and enhance collaborative opportunities. More Information: http://www.eurosoil2012.eu/d/43/ 26 Sep 2011 15:51:38 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/events/future_events/W13.1_Eurosoil2012.pdf ECAE5329-A8BA-421E-A589-1A3735DCE24F Invitation: There are a number of initiatives currently in place to provide harmonized soils data at a European scale and we, the ESBN, would like to propose a symposium to discuss the merits, or otherwise, of the various approaches from Digital Soil Mapping to more traditional soil mapping and data gathering techniques. We would also like to explore how such approaches can take account of soil functions and how this will affect the robustness of policy decisions. 26 Sep 2011 14:03:39 GMT http://www.eurosoil2012.eu/d/43/ 212C3202-4103-4F63-8D3C-5CEE3997333B Invitation: We invite presentations on experimental and observational studies of soil functioning within the CZ. Contributions are welcomed that quantify relations between environmental gradients, soil processes and soil functions. The "Modelling soil within the Critical Zone" session will explore fundamental aspects of soil carbon dynamics in soil-plant-water-terrestrial ecosystems. More Information: http://www.eurosoil2012.eu/d/43/ 26 Sep 2011 14:03:20 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/events/future_events/SoilTrEC_Eurosoil2012_S13.pdf 6FEF775C-41AE-428F-9628-ADE774387FDB Interesting Study: DIGISOIL WP 5.1 made an overall assesment of the project. The purpose of the DIGISOIL project was to develop pertinent, reliable, and cost-effective geophysical solutions for mapping soil properties. Considering recent advances in equipment and signal processing, collecting soil information at the catchment scale needs the deployment of geophysical sensors of different nature. The identified sensing systems included the ground-penetrating radar (GPR), electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), electromagnetic induction (EMI), seismics, and airborne hyperspectral). Some tests were also realized with magnetics 16 Sep 2011 17:12:19 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects/Digisoil/Documents/Digisoil%20-%20D5.1.pdf 01EAE554-57EA-470C-B537-3DAD3D85E351 Interesting information outputs: Presentations - Global Soil Partnership (GSP) for Food Security and Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation launched at FAO - Rome, 7-9 September 2011 Download Global Soil Partnership Brochure. 16 Sep 2011 17:12:03 GMT http://www.fao.org/nr/water/landandwater_gsp_infores.html 1A464BED-EF7E-454C-ACC7-B72D6DB1A565 Interesting Scientific Report - Conference Proceedings: This monograph contains a selection of scientific papers presented on the conference on Land Quality and Land Use Information in the European Union, hold in Keszthely, Hungary. It covers topics related to various aspects of land quality including: concepts of assessment; evaluation of biomass productivity; bioindicators of land quality; quality assessment of degraded land; land use related data processing; INSPIRE; and the economic aspects of land quality. The aim of the conference was to facilitate the exchange of information and views among stakeholders involved in land management, land resources research and land use policy planning. This exchange of information contributes to an enhanced understanding on the role of land quality in rural systems and to progress the development of land information, land registries, land use planning and related services based on land quality on different levels; from farm to continental scales in Europe. 6 Sep 2011 10:12:37 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/eusoils_docs/other/EUR24590.pdf A8479E1B-FEB9-44BE-AACB-017C0695B3B2 Scientific Report: The reference mushrooms as instruments for investigating bioindication and biodiversity. Fungi in the wild are among the principal agents in biogeochemical cycles; those cycles of matter and energy which enable ecosystems to work. By investigating the biodiversity of Italian fungal species and concentration levels of chemical elements in them, it may be possible to employ these fungi as biological indicators for the quality of forest, woodland and semi-natural environments. The data archives of EUR Reports record the dry-material concentrations, of 35 chemical elements, including heavy metals, in over 9000 samples of higher mushrooms. These samples represent around 200 genera and a thousand species. The sheer volume of the collected data may prove to be useful as a comparison for data collected in the future; such results would also allow a better and more-exhaustive interpretation of the effects of environmental-protection laws which have been enacted over the years in order to reduce or remedy current climate-change phenomena and the environmental damage caused by human activity. 6 Sep 2011 10:12:18 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/eusoils_docs/other/EUR24415EN.pdf 84D1EA30-3AAD-4BDC-AAFA-35B313860199 Interesting Study: DIGISOIL WP 4.3 deliverable assess the economic viability of the DIGISOIL technology through the undertaking of a cost-benefit analysis (CBA). For this purpose it relies on data generated by a cost-estimation exercise of the various field trials, while employing as input the findings of the work carried out under Task 4.2, "Evaluation of the DIGISOIL mapping tool according to end-users’ needs" 6 Sep 2011 10:11:50 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects/Digisoil/Documents/Digisoil%20-%20D4.3.pdf CF100804-EE6F-487C-813D-3ED6AE108330 Awareness Raising: The 2nd meeting of ENSA aims at connecting municipalities, teachers, planners and soil experts to exchange knowledge and enforce soil awareness raising activities in Europe. The ENSA-meeting will be held in the City of Tulln, close to Vienna, Austria from 13th to 14th of October 2011. For more information about the conference, venue and ONLINE-Registration, please visit the ENSA website http://www.eu-ensa.org. 6 Sep 2011 10:11:28 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/events/Future_events/ENSA2011.pdf D9F3365C-5A27-4BDD-BE3C-480ABE4208B5 Interesting scientific report: Conference papers, June 18th and 19th, 2009, Sarajevo - Bosnia and Herzegovina. The conference Soil Protection Activities and Soil Quality Monitoring in South Eastern Europe was organized in Sarajevo as a joint action by the Soil Science Society of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Soil Science Society of Slovenia. The main objectives of conference were to review the soil protection and soil quality monitoring activities in SEE including research activities, project reports, good practice guides and various methodologies and monitoring strategies. The special emphasis was laid on the ecological and technical soil functions, remediation and re-cultivation measures, data collection and processing, soil protection policy, soil quality and soil resources management issues on the regional level. The conference was an opportunity to key regional soil science research institutions to present activities and achievements with further prospects of cross - border scientific collaboration. This publication presents a selection of 20 conference papers prepared by the authors from SEE countries (Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) and guest contributions from Austria, Slovenia and Syria. 27 Jul 2011 11:07:25 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/eusoils_docs/other/EUR24889.pdf 0378165F-3C22-473D-8206-083461E4A273 Interesting Event: The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Marek Sawicki and European Commission, DG Research & Innovation are pleased to invite you to this scientific conference. The Agenda and the Inviation are attached. The conference is planned for 21 September 2011 in Brussels (BE) during the Polish EU Presidency. 14 Jul 2011 11:06:50 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/events/Future_events/InvitationCarbon2011.pdf 3CC8A6E0-D8FA-4AE5-A419-C7BC1386EDF9 Interesting publications: A list of the most interesting publications of SOIL Action staff in in peer review journals during 2010: Effects of soil-surface microbial community phenotype upon physical and hydrological properties of an arable soil: A microcosm study [European Journal of Soil Science] Multi-scale European Soil Information System (MEUSIS): A multi-scale method to derive soil indicators [Computational Geosciences] Combining spatial data in landslide reactivation susceptibility mapping: A likelihood ratio-based approach in W Belgium [Geomorphology] Preface: Soil erosion and degradation in mediterranean type ecosystems [ Land Degradation and Development] Carbon concentrations and stocks in forest soils of Europe. [Forest Ecology and Management] Prediction of spatial patterns of collapsed pipes in loess-derived soils in a temperate humid climate using logistic regression [Geomorphology] Comparison of two landslide susceptibility assessments in the Champagne-Ardenne region (France). [Geomorphology] The need for harmonizing methodologies for assessing soil threats in Europe [Soil Use and Management] An Analysis of the Land Use Sustainability Index (LUSI) at Territorial Scale Based on Corine Land Cover [Management of Environmental Quality] 5 Jul 2011 14:37:49 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/eusoils_docs/doc_pub.html 8BC701F2-A48F-458F-9954-9994BA9B7434 Interesting Conclusions: An international conference on ’Land Quality and Land Use Information in the European Union’ was organised in association with the Hungarian EU presidency in Keszthely (Hungary) in May 2011. The conference was organized by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, University of Pannonia and the European Commission (Eurostat, DG ENV, JRC), under the auspices of the Hungarian Ministry of Rural Development. The conference was supported by the International Union of Soil Sciences. The conference discussed the options to cope with these issues and concluded with five main recommendations addressing future horizons. 30 Jun 2011 09:29:28 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/eusoils_docs/Conf/LQ2011_Recommendations.pdf 8B5E5EEA-4E5A-44AE-88F9-BF570A01EB8E Policy document: It is the result of work performed by the INSPIRE Thematic Working Group on Soil from June 2010 to June 2011. These guidelines will be subject to public consultation and testing during the period June 2011 – October 2011. Comments will be taken into account for drafting the final guidelines which in turn will form the basis for drafting European legislation during 2012. It will be this legislation that will be binding for the EU Member States and will require that existing and new soil data in Member States should be available for exchange in a specific format. 30 Jun 2011 09:29:14 GMT http://inspire.jrc.ec.europa.eu/documents/Data_Specifications/INSPIRE_DataSpecification_SO_v2.0.pdf E222870E-AEB7-46DA-9027-57D9F0356A43 Important Resolution: From 16 – 18 May 2011, scientists from Bulgaria and 22 other countries gathered in the "Nikola Poushkarov" Institute of Soil Science, Sofia to commemorate the achievements of 100 years soil science in Bulgaria and its future development. 29 Jun 2011 09:28:53 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/eusoils_docs/Conf/Resolution_Conference_100_Years-Poushkarov.pdf D4EC48CC-454A-4E32-A551-7776726BF1FB Important Event: The meeting "Towards a Global Soil Partnership for Food Security and Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation" will take place in Rome, FAO Headquarters, at 7 - 9 September 2011. The provisional agenda is online and interested parties are invited to follow this important event. 27 Jun 2011 09:28:33 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/InternationalCooperation/GSP/Documents/GSP_Provisional_Agenda.pdf 8A84E098-36BD-4C54-8B17-63B588E02B08 Data for download: G2 model is a new generic model for erosion, resulted from the cooperation of JRC/IES/Land Management & Natural Hazards Unit/SOIL Action and the Lab of Forest Management and Remote Sensing of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in the framework of geoland2 project. G2 estimates soil loss (in t/ha) from sheet and interril erosion caused by splash and runoff, on a month-step basis and on a landscape scale. G2 model has been applied in the cross-border basin of Strymonas river (14,500 km2), located in South East Europe (Greece / Bulgaria). The data of Strymonas application are provided for free in raster format (Grid and TIFF), in the ETRS89 LAEA Coordinate System; temporal coverage: 2003-2006. 16 Jun 2011 08:48:17 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects/Geoland2/data.html 19771EDA-E0AE-4DF1-8561-1A87A37C47CD DIGISOIL Deliverable: This deliverable of the Digisoil project, D4.2, is looking at the usefulness of the concept and the approach of the project in relation to its receivers. With a focus on the end-user needs, the technical maturity of the output will be analyzed. The approach of the project as well as reported results is looked at. To assess the procedures as reported the technical readiness level method has been applied. It indicates that a geophysical “multi-functional” tool as suggested by Digisoil has a lot of potential in contributing to the soil information database. 15 Jun 2011 08:47:59 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects/Digisoil/Documents/Digisoil%20-%20D4.2.pdf 3B11A8A8-1FF5-474F-A93E-BAFC8B91B386 Celebrating Soils in Europe: In support of the activities associated with the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the SOIL Action of the JRC is collaborating with the European Soil Bureau Network and national Soil Science Societies across Europe to promote the importance of soil for society as a whole and the need for it’s sustainable management and use. Soils are amongst the most precious natural resources of Hungary. The favourable landscape, climate and soil conditions allowed the original Hungarians to settle in the Carpathian Basin. When looking at the soil map of Hungary, the various colours reflect how differences in environmental factors have determined the development of the soil cover . 10 Jun 2011 10:18:04 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/Awareness/EU-Presidency.html DBDC9649-5318-4C27-8F72-AD644242032C Important Article: SoilTrEC in NATURE (Volume: 474, Pages: 151–152 Date published: 09 June 2011, DOI: doi:10.1038/474151a The European Commission funds a $10-million CZO programme with 10 sites in Europe, the United States and China focused on mitigating soil threats. Four core European sites represent key stages of the soil cycle. Damma Glacier CZO in Switzerland, Fuchsenbigl CZO in Austria , Lysina CZO in the Czech Republic, Koiliaris CZO in Crete-Greece 9 Jun 2011 10:17:45 GMT http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v474/n7350/full/474151a.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20110609 FC9F5F78-C920-4075-8246-F1D3B6B616C5 Interesting Studies: WP4: Evaluation of the DIGISOIL mapping tool according to end users’ needs. This WP4 output has identified potential end-users, determined the main areas that the end-users are interested in applying the mapping tool and, most importantly estimated the willingness to pay for the various features of the tool. WP5: Technological specifications of the DIGISOIL mapping tool. This WP5 output has defined the technical specifications of the geophysical system, already set up in previous tasks. 31 May 2011 08:28:34 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects/Digisoil/wp.html 99CCE1E7-EE8A-46CE-8B1C-7609B2254C88 Editors: Th. Karyotis, D. Gabriels, 2011. Abstract Proceedings of the 6th International Congress of European Society for Soil Conservation, "Innovative Strategies and Policies for Soil Conservation". Thessaloniki 9-14 May 2011. ISBN: 978-960-88296-9-5. The 6th International Congress of the European Society for Soil Conservation “Innovative Strategies and Policies for Soil Conservation” was organized in Thessaloniki between 9 May and 14 May 2011. After the great success of the 5th ESSC International Congress held in Palermo in June 2007, 200 scientists from over 50 countries have participated in the 6th ESSC Congress. The Conference was divided in Six (6) sessions: SESSION 1. Policies and thematic strategies for soil protection. SESSION 2. Forest fires impacts on natural resources and cultural heritage. SESSION 3. Sustainable management of wetlands and drylands. SESSION 4. Soil and water management under global climatic change scenarios. SESSION 5. Conservation and Management of Soil Biodiversity. SESSION 6. Restoration and remediation of degraded lands - Education in soil conservation and public awareness. 30 May 2011 17:37:08 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/eusoils_docs/Conf/6thESSC.pdf 9DE94AC0-EE62-4D76-B7A3-1F82AB0024F1 Data for download: In the context of Service Level Agreement between JRC and EFSA, a series of datasets have been developed as support to the FATE and the ECOREGION EFSA PPR Working Groups. The data include: Soil maps (Organic matter content of the topsoil, pH of the topsoil, Bulk density of the topsoil, Texture of the topsoil, Water content at field capacity), Meteorological maps (Mean monthly temperature, Mean annual temperature, Arrhenius weighted mean annual temperature, Mean monthly precipitation , Mean annual precipitation), Land use - Land cover - CAPRI Land cover maps, General maps (Masker of all files, Countries of the EU-27, Regulatory zones , FOCUS Zones) 20 May 2011 08:56:10 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/Data/EFSA/ 793BB792-A1D4-4656-BDFE-E412086ECAA1 Soil Action has published two open vacancies fro Grantholder Cat 20 (Development of innovative systems for monitoring, reporting and verification of soil organic carbon - Development of soil spectroscopy for EU digital soil mapping) Venue: 7-9 September 2011, FAO Headquarters, Rome, Italy 18 various open vacancies for PostDoc Researchers in the stitute for Environment and Sustainability, Ispra, Italy 2 Open posts in European Environment Agency (EEA), Copenhagen, Denmark (Soil scientist, Forest and Environment Contract Agent (FG IV) 19 May 2011 08:55:51 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/vacancies/ B603DF4B-3280-46B0-A694-CA839DD39894 Important collaboration: FAO and JRC have been initiated to develop a vision statement, strategy and action plan towards the establishment of a Global Soil Partnership (GSP) for Food Security and Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation A number of Institutions and countries have already expressed their interest to join this partnership at an early stage. We are pleased to extend to you a preliminary inivation to the formal launch event of this gloval partnership organised by FAO and Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. Venue: 7-9 September 2011, FAO Headquarters, Rome, Italy 4 May 2011 12:25:06 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/InternationalCooperation/GSP/ 24EC1E2C-3E07-4A1F-A47D-108C6E844CCF Important event: Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, Faculty of Agriculture Ege University & Soil Science Society of TURKEY Cordially invite you to participate in The International Conference on "Land Degradation and Challenges in Sustainable Soil Management" Çesme - Izmir, TURKEY, 15-17 May 2012 18 Apr 2011 12:24:25 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/events/Future_events/FirstAnnouncementISSC.pdf F34E8AC8-B869-4499-95B1-F618AB0707CF Download Data: Reference Grid, Global Land Cover, Climate and Ecological Zones, Soil Default C-Stocks, Land Use System Factor(FLUSYS), IFPRI Global Regions, Crop Surface Area . The data made available on these pages are referred to in the Guide for Calculation of Carbon Stock Changes in Soil and Above and Below Ground Vegetation due to Land Use Conversion, which was prepared in support to Commission Decision C(2010) 3751). The thematic spatial layers complement the data already published on the reference climate region and soil type classification. The data are freely available for Download. 14 Mar 2011 17:57:57 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects/RenewableEnergy/MoreData.html 0FB3C779-617E-4866-B2B0-8F05A6B1CA44 The activities realized in 2010 by JRC as support to the FATE and the ECOREGION EFSA PPR Working Groups are shortly described. For the FATE WG, the vast majority of data has been provided in 2009 during the first year of the Service Level Agreement (SLA), and in 2010 the daily weather data, for the 6 selected sites, were produced. All the data used for the scenario selection procedures, with additional data on land use-land cover, crop distribution, soil and climate parameters, will be made available for external user in first half of 2011. For the ECOREGION WG the analysis has been carried out for three Member States covering a North-South gradient from Finland, Germany to Portugal development of bio-indicators (technological level); the assessment of the added value brought by cost-effective bio-indicators, and of cost effectiveness of alternative ecosystem service maintenance policies (economic level). 31 Mar 2011 11:09:38 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/eusoils_docs/other/EUR24744.pdf 78EB5C4B-7BB6-4230-8B13-0D2CC2FC0B41 EcoFINDERS (Ecological Function and Biodiversity Indicators in European Soils) project will result in increasing our knowledge of soil biodiversity and its role in ecosystem services across different soils, climate types and land uses (scientific level); the standardization of methods and operating procedures for characterizing soil biodiversity and functioning, and the development of bio-indicators (technological level); the assessment of the added value brought by cost-effective bio-indicators, and of cost effectiveness of alternative ecosystem service maintenance policies (economic level). 31 Mar 2011 11:06:42 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects/ecoFinders/ 5D3D9712-9A05-4FC5-B3A6-1732515D50D6 The program of the "Land Quality 2011" conference has been announced. The program, including plenary presentations and detailed timetable of the scientific sessions with presentation titles is now available at the conference website. Poster submission and registration for the conference are open until 30th April. 31 Mar 2011 11:01:29 GMT http://landq2011.uni-pannon.hu/ EE39A382-CD68-4F47-960A-AB122D430847 This Digisoil Deliverable presents a validation of the geo-physical techniques, based on different sets of criteria: i) accuracy of the measurements generally estimated by the RMSE, ii) capacity to represent spatial patterns and spatial variability. 30 Mar 2011 11:00:41 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects/Digisoil/Documents/Digisoil%20-%20D3.3.pdf 80A63D97-14BA-4EDA-B0D1-2B6216EA1B54 The International Summer School on 'Environmental and Resource Management' will be held in Ljubljana from July 11th to July 23rd, 2011. http://www.let-group.com/summerschool/iss11.nsf 30 Mar 2011 10:57:48 GMT http://www.let-group.com/summerschool/iss11.nsf 72519A1F-A94B-4CBC-AFBA-04369BBBD9DA Awareness Raising: the second ENSA-meeting will be held in the City of Tulln, close to Vienna, Austria from 13th to 14th of October 2011. For more information please visit the ENSA website http://www.eu-ensa.org. 24 Mar 2011 15:48:58 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/events/Future_events/ENSA2011.pdf 6C967B3D-3463-48DB-BAEA-3F130A1089AA Data News: The European Soil Database is in the process of being updated with data for Turkey; the final product will probably be released during summer/autumn 2011. 24 Mar 2011 15:48:43 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/ESDB_Data_Distribution/updates.html 5F3F2CF3-92DA-49E4-B8F4-E846E84DB574 User's Feedback: The Soil Action of the Joint Research Centre would like to invite you to take part in a survey about a digital soil mapping tool, developed in collaboration with the DIGISOIL consortium. This new technology makes use of a number of geophysical techniques in order to produce detailed, geo-referenced digital maps of soil properties and soil degradations indicators. In particular, when fully developed, it will be able to measure the following soil properties: Soil depth, soil bulk density, carbon content, water content and clay content. Before deploying the technology, and in order to better target it to the end users, we are launching this survey which aims to assess the end-users’ preferences with regard to different configurations and capabilities of the digital maps. If you believe that such a product would be of service to you and/or the institute/company you work for, we would appreciate it if you could take a few moments to respond to our survey. It is a short survey and should not take you more than 5 minutes to complete. If, however, you are not interested in this mapping tool but you know of someone else who might be, we encourage you to forward this link to them. 10 Mar 2011 16:05:09 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects/Digisoil/survey/63.htm 4897F689-F5DB-4064-B121-755F846D5864 Interesting Report: The BioSoil demonstration Project was initiated under the Forest Focus-Scheme (Regulation (EC) Nr. 2152/2003) concerning the monitoring of forests and environmental interactions in the Community, and aimed to broaden the scope of previous forest monitoring activities (on atmospheric pollution and forest fires) to the fields of soil characteristics and biodiversity indicators. The evaluation of the project concentrated on analysing a selected number of parameters submitted by NFCs for estimating the distribution and changes in soil organic carbon and the performance of the WRB classification 11 Feb 2011 09:29:29 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/eusoils_docs/other/EUR24729.pdf 1573FAD6-9D9B-476B-996D-B7A1076ED6A8 Interesting Download: The Atlas of Soil Biodiversity is also available for download. Atlas pages are to be downloaded individually (129 pages in total), either in PDF format (higher quality) or JPEG format. The user can navigate the Atlas by using the Navigation Buttons and/or selecting a section from the Contents Menu. There are 129 files for download, covering all the pages. 8 Feb 2011 09:28:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/maps/Biodiversity_Atlas/Download.cfm 98FA3725-791F-490B-8EC9-630F4EDF0765 Policy Implementation: The Work Programme 2011 for SOIL Action is Available. Deliverables and Objectives of the Action are included 8 Feb 2011 09:27:46 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/jrc_soil/WP/WP2011.pdf E87D4561-FE2B-4513-B41E-C5589DC2E8E5 Awareness Raising: This was the background for members of the German Soil Science Society and the Federal Soil Association of Germany to initiate the action "Soil of the year" in 2004. Soil of the year 2005 was the Chernozem. Soil of the year 2006 was the Albic Luvisol. Soil of the year 2007 was the Podzol. Soil of the year 2008 is the Cambisol/ Arenosol. Soil of the year 2009 is the Calcareous Marsh. Soil of the year 2010 are Urbic Anthrosols/ Technosols. Soil of the Year 2011: Vega Fluvic Cambisol or Fluvisol . 4 Feb 2011 09:27:05 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/Awareness/Documents/Material/Soil_of_Year.pdf 445777AC-8C2F-489E-920E-1000DF2F4220 Awareness Raising: This calendar and the related European Atlas of Soil Biodiversity is an initiative of the European Commission Joint Research Centre to bring the issue of soil biota to the attention of society as a whole. To raise awareness of the general public, policy makers and other scientists of the global perspective and importance of soil biodiversity particularly, in the context of the UN’s International Year for Biodiversity, the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (located in Ispra, Italy) has collaborated with soil scientists from all over Europe to produce the first ever European Atlas of Soil Biodiversity. 31 Jan 2011 13:51:04 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/Awareness/calendar2011.html 44246DA9-5FDB-463B-91CE-2F83105238F2 Research Associate (Post Doc) position. Oregon State, USA 03/02/2011 Ph.D. student position in Applied Environmental Science within the EU Initial Training Network program CSI:ENVIRONMENT Applied Environmental Science (ITM) , STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN 15/02/2011 Director General ICIMOD 15/02/2011 PhD student in the research education subject: Microbiology Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences 21/02/2011 INRA Junior researcher permanent position INRA, Montpelier, France 24/02/2011 IIASA POSTDOCTORAL PROGRAM IIASA 28/02/2011 Assistant professor (Geo-Engineering - Carbon sequestration) Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland 01/03/2011 PhD / postdoc opportunity in geobiology / chemical hydrology 2 Jan 2011 13:51:46 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/vacancies/index.cfm F2AD273E-A427-4521-8FD8-FA765582038D Intersting poster: Soil biodiversity. Paul Henning Krogh, Henning Petersen, Arwyn Jones, Luca Montanarella, Ciro Gardi and Simon Jeffery. Poster presented at Danish Biodiversity Symposium at Aarhus University. 17 Jan 2011 16:43:52 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/eusoils_docs/Poster/BiodiversityAU.pdf 51B00354-C425-4A3C-BC86-01A57EB0847C ESBN developments: Minutes of the European Soil bureau Network plenary session 2010 (21 – 22 September 2010). The document includes the discussion and brief description of the presentations. 14 Jan 2011 16:43:24 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/esbn/Plenary_esbn_2010/FinalMinutes2010.pdf 395FE93D-8619-40C2-89B2-C34E500016E0 ESDAC Data: Data that are freely available for download while other are restricted due to copyright rules (Registration is requested). For the datasets where registration is requested, an automatic online application handles the data access requests. Teh procedure is very simple and the user gets access to the data! 7 Jan 2011 17:39:33 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/esdac/OnLine_Data.cfm 7FAF4975-BF1D-46A5-80C8-639809467F0C Project data available: Data Dissemination Platform for the test sites of iSoil Project. All datasets from geophysics at Bad Rosslau Catchment are available. Volumetric soil moisture content (%) as measured by TDR (Time Domain Reflectance); point data Electromagnetic scanning data (mS/m); continuous data 4 Jan 2011 17:39:08 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects/isoil/data.html 0B1DF2DE-2726-44CD-8C20-0C511C4F9500 EUrocLIMA is a cooperation programme on environment issues between the EU and Latin America . The main product in this thematic area will be the publication of the first Soil Atlas of Latin America and the Caribbean, aiming at presenting the relevance of soils as a natural resource and particularly its role in climate change the carbon cycle. Its publication is foreseen for 2013. It is expected that such a publication increases the visibility of this environment and key natural resource for decision-makers, Latin American public in general and particularly its education community. EUrocLIMA es un programa de cooperación en materia de medio ambiente entre la UE y América Latina El principal producto en este tema será la realización del primer Atlas de Suelos de América Latina y el Caribe, con vistas a presentar la importancia de los suelos como recurso natural y en particular su papel en el contexto del cambio climático y el ciclo del carbono. Su publicación está prevista para 2013. Se espera que un producto de este tipo permita aumentar la visibilidad para las administraciones, la sociedad latinoamericana en general y la comunidad educativa en particular de un ambiente y recurso natural clave como son los suelos 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/maps/LatinAmerica_Atlas/index.html B661D9DA-1BF4-4F1F-A26F-2B8AEB137280 Interoperability news: The European Soil Data Center (ESDAC) Map Viewer incorporates layers from the European Soil Database and other data sources (Organic Carbon, Soil Erosion,pH, Compaction, Salinization) currently hold in ESDAC. The public user can combine those layers with information of other Spatial servers in the World. The user should copy the suggested WMS Strings to his WMS client. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/wms/wms.htm 3EC5531D-A819-4B24-A30D-91FE0BE55DE4 Policy Report: The European environment – state and outlook 2010 (SOER) report was launched on the 30th November in Brussels. The 222-page report provides an overview of the state of, trends in and prospects for the environment in Europe. It includes 13 Europe-wide thematic assessments of key environmental themes which aim to help policy makers and citizens better understand, care for and improve Europe’s environment. The thematic assessment on Soil was written by IES scientists in collaboration with the EEA and DG ENV. Download the Thematic Assessement Soil. Nearly all of the food and fibres used by humans are produced on soil. Soil is also essential for water and ecosystem health. It is second only to the oceans as a global carbon sink, with an important role in the potential slowing of climate change. Soil functions depend on a multitude of soil organisms which makes it an important part of our biodiversity. Nevertheless, soil in many parts of Europe is being over-exploited, degraded and irreversibly lost due to impacts from industrial activities and land use change, leading to soil sealing, contamination, erosion and loss of organic carbon. Due to these problems, legislation for the protection of soils has been proposed at EU level. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/SOER2010/ 8E6FB57A-1E72-40C4-9701-99E782A4C120 Interesting Reference Report: : This Guide covers the calculation of carbon-stock changes in soil and above- and below-ground vegetation due to land use conversion in support of Directive 2009/28/EC on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources, particularly for assessing carbon-stock changes due to land conversion for biofuel production. The methodology put forward is based on the Tier 1 approach as developed under the IPCC Guidelines 2006. It is based on specifying default values for carbon stocks and using coefficients of divergence from the default values according to land use/cover. The methodological approach of the IPCC was adapted for use with spatial layers instead of data tables. The spatial layers of the factors influencing carbon-stock changes were generated with global coverage and thematically aligned to comply with stipulations made in the Directive. According to the types of land use/cover conversion, a review is made of the methodology of the IPCC (2006). Particular problems regarding peatlands are presented. Drained peatlands cannot be assessed in terms of carbon-stock changes because drainage occurs on the overall peat soil profile (not only on the first 30 cm). This has direct consequences not only on CO2 emissions but also on CH4 and N2O. Tables of coefficients of conversions are then proposed according to climate zone and continental boundaries for soil carbon-stock changes and for above- and below-ground carbon stock changes in biomass in a Technical Annex. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/eusoils_docs/other/EUR24573.pdf D3221801-D8E7-446A-BA16-394950060824 This study provides a new methodology developed by the JRC IES and IE for estimating changes in soil carbon stocks and GHG emissions resulting from global land use changes caused by the production of biofuels. The methodology follows a two-step approach: a) Creation of database (e.g. land use/crop cover/soil types etc.), combining different data sources into a single harmonised database; b) Simulation based on cropland demands from the general equilibrium model MIRAGE (run by IFPRI) and on cropland demand from the partial equilibrium model AGLINK-COSIMO Author(s): Roland Hiederer, Fabien Ramos, Claudia Capitani, Renate Koeble, Viorel Blujdea, Oscar Gomez, Declan Mulligan and Luisa Marelli, 2010 – 150 pp. – EUR 24483 EN– Scientific and Technical Research series – ISSN 1018-5593, ISBN 978-92-79-16389-0, DOI 10.2788/48910 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/eusoils_docs/other/EUR24483.pdf 175B9CFA-9F18-4036-89FE-183E68C786E4 Interesting Topic: : Biochar is char made from biomass, e.g. crop residues, green waste, wood chippings, chicken manure, etc. Biochar is listed here as a separate Soil project on account of its geoengineering status and its cross-cutting nature, i.e. it is relevant to all the Soil Threats. The JRC plays two main roles in the biochar issue: a) independent and objective reviewer of relevant scientific evidence b) active communicator and facilitator in the international scientific discourse . 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects/Biochar/ 3BF99995-7D17-44A9-8866-4EFA1C257E39 High-Level Decision Conference: : The 10th Conference of the Parties (COP-10) to the Convention on Biological Diversity took place in Nagoya, Japan. At the two-week long meeting the international community, including the EU, have been striving to agree on a post-2010 policy framework for preserving biodiversity. Scientists from the JRC Institute for Environment and Sustainability (IES) have taken part in this event to present their findings on soil biodiversity as well as on forest fragmentation and green infrastructure. Find the presentations regarding the "Soil Biodiversity Atlas" and "Soil ecosystem based approaches providing win-win-win solutions for climate change, biodiversity and desertification" 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/themes/biodiversity/cop10.html CCD4945B-454B-4AF3-B6DB-A89D4804A4B2 Interesting Vacancies: : Soil Action is looking for 2 candidates for the following posts: - PhD Student: Options for Climate change mitigation in agricultural soils and impact on crop and grassland production in candidate countries of the EU. - Post Doc: Generation of multiscale soil water maps on the basis of newly developed pedotransfer functions In the Institute for Environment and Sustainability (IES/JRC) there are more vacancies with deadline 10/11/2010: 3 OPEN POSITIONS as PhD Students and 14 OPEN POSITIONS as Post Doc (CAT.30) 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/vacancies/ 741E0D4D-7050-4080-8D49-D911AA3DE874 Challenge Participation: Invitation for membership in "Sino-EU Panel on Land and Soil" is based on the expression of interest. Candidates will be notified following the corresponding SC meeting. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/InternationalCooperation/SEPLS/ExpressionInterest.html 30B8CD98-2FEC-4CBD-BC54-347B418D5260 Important Event: The First Meeting on Soil Atlas of Latin America took place in Rio, Brazil at 6 - 10 September 2010. This meeting was combined with the meeting of GlobalSoilMap.net Node of Latin America. Among the objectives of the meeting was to present the Project Soil Atlas of Latin America and the GlobalSoilMap.net Partnership. Soil Atlas of Latin America is a major objective for the JRC in the next 2 years and the meeting was a the first step towards this achievement. All the presenation of the 5-days meeting are available to the public. Most of them are in Spanish. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/maps/LatinAmerica_Atlas/Meeting2010.html 43C4D494-620B-40EE-A1DB-7D69C91990FC Important Proceedings: This publication presents the results of a meeting of experts from a number of national geological surveys, research institutes and universities in Europe, held at the Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Ispra, Italy on 23-24 October 2007, with the main aim to discuss and draft guidelines for mapping areas at risk of landslides in Europe. This volume includes examples of landslide inventories and susceptibility, hazard and risk mapping approaches in France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Italy and Spain. It also discusses some harmonisation issues and criteria for mapping landslide susceptibility across Europe. In addition, it draws recommendations on a common methodology for landslide susceptibility mapping based on geographically-nested “Tier” approaches at various scales, from European-wide, small-scale mapping using heuristic methods and readily available data on landslide conditioning and triggering factors, to medium-scale mapping by statistical approaches using also landslide inventory data, and to large-scale susceptibility assessment applying physically-based models in high-risk local areas pinpointed by the previous Tier approaches. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/eusoils_docs/other/EUR23093.pdf 36182047-5BCB-4594-AE67-F6930DCC7390 Soil Thematic Strategy Implementation: This report provides an example of the implementation of the proposal of the Soil Framework Directive at regional scale. The authors analysed the complex process as defined in the proposal for the Soil Framework Directive (COM (2006) 232) from the European Commission to the Council and European Parliament. Furthermore the implementation scheme of the proposed Directive has been followed from the definition of the soil erosion risk assessment to the reporting activity to the European Commission. In addition, an overview of the actual policy framework for the soil protection measures is given. The authors underline some crucial steps in the implementation of the Directive with particular attention to the common criteria and the need for soil monitoring data for the reporting activity to European Commission. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/eusoils_docs/other/EUR22953IT.pdf 0004C49C-6B95-4C0B-B122-8E4835C81CD8 Awareness Raising: The posters of Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) 2008 have been translated in French. French translation courtesy of: Marion BARDY (Ministčre de l’Ecologie, de l’Energie, du Développement durable et de la Mer, France). if any other countries would like to follow the example of the French, Please contact Panos Panagos or Arwyn Jones in order to get the original powerpoint posters. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/themes/biodiversity/cbp.html DE0AB5D9-A0D7-418A-A5AE-02B91B78E57D ESBN membership: Find the European Soil Bureau Network(ESBN) member grouped by National Contacts (one ESBN member per country), Technical Experts, Observers and JRC Soil Group 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/esbn/esbn_members.html 631EC5F8-927D-4C9F-8FE9-563B02271198 Vacancies: The JRC is currently organising open competitions to recruit new scientific/technical staff in the following fields: Chemistry, Biology-Health,Physics,Structural Mechanics,Policy Analysis,Spatial Sciences,Environment, Energy,Communication/IT 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eur-lex.europa.eu/JOHtml.do?uri=OJ:C:2010:265A:SOM:EN:HTML 9F647A19-6B2D-404A-9409-0CD4B6B1B4DF ESBN Communication: Following on from discussion at the 2010 plenary meeting in Brussels, European Soil Bureau Network has sent a letter to the Hungarian presidency highlighting the support of the network to the Soil Framework Directive and their assistance if the Directive needs further adjustment 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/esbn/Esbn_Activities.html E5366B0D-6317-43AF-B656-54097D149C74 Interesting Collaboration: Recognizing the interdependences between land resources and socio-economic systems in Europe and China, the leaderships of the European Commission and the Chinese Academy of Sciences launched a joint initiative to establish a formalized platform to discuss major issues of mutual interest in the land and soil domain. The Sino-EU Panel on Land and Soil (SEPLS) has been established on 29 June, 2010, in Ispra, Italy to serve this need. Leading soil scientist and land system researchers of China and the EU formed the Panel, which has the following mandate: "The Sino-EU Panel on Land and Soil is a scientific body with a goal to provide decision makers in Europe and China with a clear scientific view on the current state of land and soil resources and potential environmental and socio-economic consequences of their future utilization patterns." 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/InternationalCooperation/SEPLS/ D83D6B92-E055-490D-98FD-6CF7538C11F2 Consortium Agreement: The GlobalSoilMap.net project aims to make a new digital soil map of the world using state-of-the-art and emerging technologies for soil mapping and predicting soil properties at fine resolution. The Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (Italy) is the node for the Eurasia part. In September 2010, the Consortium Agreement has been signed by all node leading and supporting institutes. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/InternationalCooperation/GlobalSoilMap.net/ 9EBA03A1-1275-422D-A3AB-DB8541AF75FB Interesting Event: The annual European Soil Bureau Network (ESBN) plenary meeting was hold on the premises of DG Environment in Brussels from the 21st-22nd September. The plenary focused on the presentation of the ESBN Working Groups and the harmonisation of soil data in Europe. The second day has focused on the presentation of projects related to data harmonisation (E-Soter, GlobalSoilMap.net, GS-SOIL). The presentations of the 2-days plnary are available for internet users. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/esbn/esbn_meetings_plenary2010.html 0A7ED06D-AB1C-49C0-B059-B9A0BF5419D8 Free download of pdf version of the atlas. Or Paper Copy: The Atlas is distributed to the general public through the Office for Official Publications of the European Union (OPOCE). Select a Sales Agent from the list of OPOCE Commercial Distributors. Click here to view all current Sales Agents. Find more informaton in the EU Bookshop. Contact them with the details of the publication: European Atlas of Soil Biodiversity , Catalogue Number: LB-NA-24375-EN-C , ISBN: 978-92-79-15806-3, ISSN: 1018-5593 , Price: Euro 25.00 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/maps/biodiversity_atlas/Documents/Biodiversity_Altas.pdf 76BCE685-D70C-4D91-AD5A-ED5D374FEED1 Important Publication: The SOIL Action (22004) of the Joint Research Centre’s Land Management and Natural Hazards Unit (H07) has just completed a comprehensive collaborative project focusing exclusively on life in the soil. One of the resulting outputs is the first ever European Atlas of Soil Biodiversity. The atlas is a visually stunning publication of 128 pages, using striking photographs, informative texts and maps to explain and illustrate the great diversity of life in the across Europe. The atlas functions as a comprehensive guide to soil biology, allowing non-specialists to access information about this unseen world. The first part of the book provides an overview of the below ground environment, soil biota in general, the ecosystem functions that soil organism perform, the important value it has for human activities and relevance for global biogeochemical cycles. The second part is more of an 'Encyclopedia of Soil Biodiversity'. Starting with the smallest organisms such as the bacteria, this segment works through a range of taxonomic groups such as fungi, nematodes, insects and macro-fauna to illustrate the astonishing levels of heterogeneity of life in soil. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/maps/biodiversity_atlas/ 5FE924E4-B37F-48B7-ADB5-0DAF557C3E8D Interesting Vacancies: : Options for Climate change mitigation in agricultural soils and impact on crop and grassland production. 3 Open positions for GrantHolders and 15 Available Positions for Trainees at the IES in 2010 (deadline 28/09/2010) More Vacancies Available at: http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/vacancies/ 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/vacancies/ 887A6B8E-9380-461B-A6BF-AE65FABD6246 Online questionnaire is available: : (deadline: 24/09/2010) The objective of this public consultation is to collect opinions on: - the overall view on the functioning and effectiveness of the EIA Directive, - the need to amend the EIA Directive, - the possible policy options for review, - the areas to be improved / amended. The internet consultation will assist the European Commission in the decision-making process, together with other sources (e.g. experience of the Commission, advice of a group of national experts and findings of relevant studies to be conducted) when considering options for the review of the EIA Directive. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://ec.europa.eu/environment/consultations/eia.htm F0DAF9EE-5B1E-481A-A4C8-F47D74E5568D Call for Proposals: FOOD, AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES, AND BIOTECHNOLOGY 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/utilities/calls/index.cfm BE997E77-58DD-4CF4-8384-CADD1DE4D2AE Interesting Study and data available: Funghi di riferimento come strumento di lavoro per la bioindicazione e la biodiversita (Fungi as study means for biodiversity and bio-indication I funghi in natura sono tra i principali agenti dei cicli biogeochimici, i cicli di materia ed energia alla base del funzionamento degli ecosistemi Il presente volume comprende: Indicazione delle localita di campionamento dei funghi e dei suoli, I dati analitici (ca 300.000) riguardanti la totalitŕ dei campioni (ca 10.000) di funghi e di suoli analizzati, La statistica descrittiva per tutti i generi e le specie analizzati, Le mappe che illustrano la distribuzione delle concentrazioni degli elementi inorganici nei funghi. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/eusoils_docs/other/EUR24415IT.pdf DA2E97BA-1F72-454C-B970-0C1D6ACD9480 Call for Proposals: CLIMATE CHANGE, POLLUTION AND RISKS, SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF RESOURCES, ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGIES, EARTH OBSERVATION AND ASSESSMENT TOOLS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/utilities/calls/index.cfm 93C65BFC-2EE6-47AC-9064-C8B658B16FBB Awareness Raising Images: Soil "goes" to schools and students. 30 Images designed by students aged from 8 to 14 during the JRC Open Day, 16 May 2009. Soil everywhere is home to an abundance of various insects of all shapes and sizes, The daily activities of the average worm, Mole vs. Worm, Good soil means better plant life, Some different types of soil that worm is digging through, Who will survive the longest underneath the surface? Slugs are actually predators of earthworms, Worm attack, family of worms working their way through the soil. Images offered for download in either JPEG or PDF format. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/Awareness/School.html 87E2E73D-8AD2-48D1-B84A-6008BDB03AEC Interesting Event: This year’s plenary will be held on September 21-22 on the premises of DG ENV in Brussels (Preceding the high-level conference on 'Soil, climate change and biodiversity: where do we stand?'). A draft programme will be available within the next days. The second day of the Plenary will focus on the inter-relationships between proposal to create a 1:250.000 soil database for Europe and the activities of the GlobalSoilMap.net, eSoter and GS-SOIL. Please contact Arwyn Jones(arwyn.jones@jrc.ec.europa.eu) and Panos Panagos (panos.panagos@jrc.ec.europa.eu) by 23/7/2010 if you are interested in attending. Afterwards, a formal invitation will be issued before the end of July to those receiving reimbursement (however due to budgetary restrictions reimbursement by the JRC may be restricted to one representative per country). Please note that the meeting is open to all people who wish to travel on their own cost. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/esbn/esbn_meetings.html 32D7940C-AF17-40F7-B26C-02761B834180 Interesting Download: The Soil Atlas of the Northern Circumpolar Region is also available for download. Atlas pages are to be downloaded individually (144 pages in total), either in PDF format (higher quality) or JPEG format. The user can navigate the Atlas by using the Navigation Buttons and/or selecting a section from the Contents Menu. There are 144 files for download, covering all the pages. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/maps/Circumpolar/Download.cfm 3711C801-A9D2-4483-AE8D-A2810A41F751 Download Legend LYR Files for Rasters: Since many of the internet users have downloaded the Raster Version of the European Soil Database, we have developed the responding Legend files which may be imported in the Symbology of Layer Properties. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/ESDBv3/legend/LegendData.cfm 1DB07157-D61B-4DAA-92D2-D4E862CC7FE5 Interesting Presentations: Presentation of Soil Action to the Commission Services (DG ENV, DG RTD, DG AGRI, DG DEV) - JRC work programme 2010 and strategy 2020 (L. Montanarella) Meeting of Swiss cantonal representatives of soil protection - Protection of Soils and new developments in the European Soil Data Centre (P. Panagos) LUCAS 2010 Workshop - LUCAS Soil: Current status of sample analysis and applicability of results (G. Toth) European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly 2010 - The impact of soil degradation on soil functioning in Europe (L. Montanarella) European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly 2010 - The Soil Atlas of Africa , Raising awareness and educate to the importance of soil (O. Dewitte) European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly 2010 - Tolerable Soil Erosion in Europe (F. Verheijen) 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/events/ F8DC4C3F-7F9C-41E1-B43B-E3D69F6F4653 Download the map: Organic Carbon per Country (Tera T) (Size: 0.7 MB, Format: PDF, Resolution: 300 dpi) or or JPEG Format, High Resolution(300 dpi) 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/octop/octop_data.html C76D6198-7AA8-400E-B38A-2C4C7B12B280 The laboratory which will perform the Samples analysis has been selected. The laboratory analysis of 20.000 samples will conclude on 16 June 2011 (18 months). The Laboratory analysis of soil samples is processing according to planned schedule and the first results are stored in the European Soil Data Center (ESDAC). Find below the data parameters that are analysed 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects/Lucas/Analysis.html D99F7BDA-603B-4A03-B984-419BB4AB9460 Find the critical Zones Observatories: Fuchsenbigl, Austria Koiliaris River Basin, Crete, Greece Damma Glacier, Canton Uri, Switzerland Kladska Lake, Chatteau, Mt. Lysina, Czech Republic 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects/Soiltrec/FieldSites.html B208DB83-0B84-4EE6-9B3D-F1F8325FB46C Interesting Conference: The Environment Directorate-General and the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission will host a high-level conference on -Soil, climate change and biodiversity: where do we stand?- in Brussels (Belgium) on 23-24 September 2010. The conference will see the participation of scientists and researchers who will report on the latest scientific findings concerning issues such as the amount of carbon stored in European soils, the role that agricultural and forestry practices can play in climate change mitigation and biodiversity protection, and the important function that soil biodiversity plays in the ecosystem. Under the title Soil, climate and biodiversity: synergies and opportunities a roundtable discussion will gather key policy players from international and European institutions. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/events/Future_events/Biodiversity_Conference.html 62C8080F-3562-4C27-BFC4-94BE300ABB20 Important Contribution : Available Thematic Data Layers for Commission Decision of [11 June 2010] on guidelines for the calculation of land carbon stocks for the purpose of Annex V to Directive 2009/28/EC. The Climatic Zone layer is defined based on the classification of IPCC (IPCC, 2006). Soil types are classified according to the World Reference Base (WRB). 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects/RenewableEnergy/ CD6E2BBC-1800-4E22-A6D9-3444DC37897F Contribution to EuDASM Map Archive: 47 Maps of Spain have been elaborated in EuDASM and offered to the public user in various format accompanied with Metadata information. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/maps/country_maps/metadata.cfm?mycountry=ES F5FA7BE6-C3B2-40B3-86A4-C4F37928A511 Download the SPADE/M v2 Database: The measured profiles provided by SPADE-1 in the form of separate spreadsheets have been assembled in a structured Microsoft Acess Database (.mdb format) in order to form SPADE/M. The updated version of SPADE/M is called SPADE/M v2 and incorporates a number of significant changes. This database and report can be downloaded from SPADE/M page. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects/spade/spadeM.html FD6DF2E4-2B10-4FD6-B0FA-12649CB75191 Interesting Publication: To meet the growing need of people for increasing farm income and to minimize the negative environmental impact of today’s farm practices, a new farming concept has been evolved where inputs are fine tuned and optimized according to the local field variability such that yield increment is achieved with a minimum harm to the local environment. This farming concept is different than the traditional farming system and can be highlighted as a precision agriculture system or more specifically termed as site specific land management (SSLM) which takes the advantage of recent technological developments and their uses in agriculture. It operates by matching resource application and agronomic practices with soil attributes and crop requirements as they vary across a field leading to the overall economic and environmental benefits. This report explains in brief a general concept and principle of this eco-friendly farming approach with some common procedures to be followed while planning of SSLM in any area. It also provides an example of applying this farming concept in a small area in Belgium and recommends some land and crop management practices. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/eusoils_docs/other/EUR23978.pdf AF21395F-C821-4C7C-BC24-61984E733C15 Event Presentations - Posters: European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly 2010 , Vienna, 2-7 May 2010 The impact of soil degradation on soil functioning in Europe (L. Montanarella) The Soil Atlas of Africa , Raising awareness and educate to the importance of soil (O. Dewitte) Tolerable Soil Erosion in Europe (F. Verheijen) Download the Posters Publication Developing SoilML as a global standard for the collation and transfer of soil data and information The Soil Atlas of Africa, Raising awareness and educate to the importance of soil Predicting water erosion at the regional scale in Africa 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/events/ 3BC3F83E-4C71-43CD-A88F-AB3E6BDD7FAC Important Publication: The SOIL Action (22004) of the Joint Research Centre’s Land Management and Natural Hazards Unit (H07) has just completed a comprehensive three year collaborative project to collate information on soil in northern latitudes. Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, launched the Atlas on 4th May 2010 in Brussels at the European Parliament at the inauguration of an exhibition on the work of the Commission's Joint Research Centre . The 144 pages atlas is the result of a three-year collaborative project with partners from northern EU countries, as well as Norway, Iceland, Greenland, Canada, the USA and Russia and gives a detailed overview of circumpolar soil resources relevant also to agriculture, forest management, water management, land use planning, infrastructure and housing and energy transport networks. In a clear style, the atlas describes the origin and major characteristics of the different soil types that can be found in this environment. The atlas is a visually stunning publication using striking maps, informative texts and dramatic photographs to explain and illustrate the great diversity of soils in northern landscapes. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/maps/Circumpolar/ 1C3570B5-B322-420C-BF7C-505955B67F34 Interesting Collection: A series of Maps and Atlases available for the public user - ATLAS: Soil Atlas of Europe, Soil Atlas of the Northern Circumpolar Region, Soil Atlas of Africa , Atlas of Soil Biodiversity - Soil Threats Maps: Pan European Soil Erosion Risk Assessment, Topsoil Organic Carbon Content (%), Natural susceptibility to compaction, Saline and Sodic Soils in European Union, ph in Europe - European Digital Archive on Soil Maps (EuDASM): 2,010 maps of Africa , 961 maps of Asia and Oceania , 240 soil maps of north America, 1,074 maps o fLatin America and more than 1000 soil maps of Europe 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/maps/maps.html BE1CA36A-F206-459E-9609-CA4485E99634 Interesting Publications: 10 publications in various peer review journals (Science, Geoderma, European Journal of Soil Science, Soil Use and Management, Soil Biology and Biochemistry, Earth-Science Reviews, Journal of Environmental Monitoring, Landslides - Disaster Risk Reduction, Environmental Geology, Eurasian Soil Science, Applied and Environmental Soil Science Volume, etc): - Soil Biodiversity Monitoring in Europe: Ongoing Activities and Challenges. - Data Management for Monitoring Forest Soils in Europe for the Biosoil Project. - The spectral quality of light influences the temporal development of the microbial phenotype at the arable soil surface. - Tolerable Versus Actual Soil Erosion Rates in Europe. - Applying quality assurance procedures to environmental monitoring data: a case study. - Sustainable mineral resources management: from regional mineral resources exploration to spatial contamination risk assessment of mining. - Basin characteristics and nutrient losses: the EUROHARP catchment network perspective. - Soil Erosion in the Alpine Area: Risk Assessment and Climate Change. - Designation of Local Varieties in the Hungarian Soil Classification System: Remarks from a Viewpoint of Land Evaluation Application. - Digital Soil Map of the World. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/eusoils_docs/doc_pub.html 269CF87D-71B0-4975-B338-44389D510D78 Estimate of Peatland Distributuion in Estonia Using an Integrated GIS/RS Approach. Soil Information and Education for a Sustainable Management: The Soil Atlas of Africa. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/eusoils_docs/doc_Conf.html 147F15A5-A662-4E77-B67B-0D95B251A87E Important Publication: The Soil Profile Analytical Database of Europe of Measured parameters (SPADE/M) is part of the distribution package of the Soil Geographic Database of Eurasia (SGDBE). Typical combinations of profile parameters and morphological characteristics of the sample site were intended to support the definition of generalized rules for estimating pedological and hydrological properties of the pedo-transfer rule (PTR) database of the SGDBE. In 2005 the data of the SGDBE were transferred to a common data storage structure. In 2008 original hard-copies on profile measurements were re-discovered at the National Soil Resources Institute, Cranfield University (NSRI). To make the original data more generally available the profiles were added to the existing database. This step required changes to the structure of the database and a validation of the all entries for accurate and reliable data storage and retrieval. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/eusoils_docs/other/EUR24333.pdf 05BB862B-AFEC-498C-AAE6-96C3D7BF05C0 Important Deliverable in Soco Project: Ten case studies were carried out in Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom between spring and summer 2008. The selection of case study areas was designed to capture differences in soil degradation processes, soil types, climatic conditions, farm structures and farming practices, institutional settings and policy priorities. A harmonised methodological approach was pursued in order to gather insights from a range of contrasting conditions over a geographically diverse area. The case studies were carried out by local experts to reflect the specificities of the selected case studies. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/eusoils_docs/other/EUR24131.pdf E42D9D4F-4290-43D1-A486-73B971719E68 2 Important Deliverables: Inferences of soil characteristics by the Pedo- Transfert Functions approach (Project Deliverable D2.2) Report of calibration of the tested technologies integrated in the DIGISOIL mapping tool (Project Deliverable D2.3) 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects/Digisoil/wp2.html 8DE44B2E-7444-4191-B7DE-568E90F134AD Free Download of pH data: The JRC created a quantitative map of estimated soil pH values across Europe from a compilation of 12,333 soil pH measurements from 11 different sources, and using a geo-statistical framework based on Regression-Kriging. The map can be downloaded as a graphical file or as data. Its spatial coverage is 25 Member States of the European Union, Norway, Switzerland, Croatia, Albania. The data are provided as a raster (ESRI GRID), in the ETRS89 Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area Co-ordinate System; Temporal coverage: 2009. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/data/ph/ 27255B03-F8E6-4209-B299-76BBECB34613 Important Data Publication: In order to extend the Soil Geographical Database (SGDBE) to the countries of Mediterranean Basin, the preparation of soil geographical database of Turkey at 1:1 million scales was initiated at the end of 2008. In the current report, the reader will be informed about the preparation of soil geographical database of Turkey compatible with European database and how the Turkish soil data have been integrated the European Soil Database. The implementation of this work has been achieved since we have built a common understanding and nomenclature of soils in Europe and Mediterranean region. A number of attributes have been transformed from local/regional/national soil datasets while some other attributes have been obtained from auxiliary datasets using remote sensing and GIS Techniques. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/eusoils_docs/other/EUR24295.pdf Interesting Conference Announcement: Following recent scientific and policy developments - also reflected in international environmental agreements - land quality is now regarded as an integrated measure of different aspects of land ecosystem services. A conference is planned for May 2011 to facilitate the exchange of information and views among stakeholders involved in different aspects of land quality management; be it research, policy planning, soil management or conservation. The JRC as one of the co-organizers invites all interested parties to participate on the conference. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/events/Future_events/LandQuality.pdf CDD3BEA9-1273-40DD-898A-C5F39361BECB Interesting Report: Did you know that every year soil organisms process an amount of organic matter equivalent in weight to 25 cars on a surface area as big as a soccer field? Or that one hectare of soil can contain the equivalent in weight of two cows of bacteria? Or that some fungi are extremely big and can reach a length of several hundred metres? If you are interested in all that, plus the relationship between worms and erosion, microbes and clean water, or why soil organisms are important for antibiotic production, you will find a wealth of information in the report Soil biodiversity. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://ec.europa.eu/environment/soil/biodiversity.htm BDF08398-89D1-4812-AB84-F0CE43987A33 Important Policy Publication: SCAPE project (Soil Conservation and Protection for Europe) has given scientists the opportunity to discuss soil conservation and protection strategies in an informal way with people who are either responsible for finding solutions, or being affected by them. Several hundreds of people have contributed to this book, either collectively or individually. They include the scientists, soil conservation and protection practitioners and stakeholders who participated in the SCAPE platforms, as well as many EU officers who are responsible for future research and environment policy. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/eusoils_docs/other/SCAPE.pdf Important Publication: The BioSoil demonstration Project was initiated under the Forest Focus-Scheme (Regulation (EC) Nr. 2152/2003) concerning the monitoring of forests and environmental interactions in the Community, and aimed to broaden the scope of previous forest monitoring activities (on atmospheric pollution and forest fires) to the fields of soil characteristics and biodiversity indicators. The preliminary data analysis concentrated on the evaluation of a selected number of parameters of the data submitted by NFCs and sampling procedures. For soil the parameters needed to establish soil organic carbon densities were analysed 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/eusoils_docs/other/EUR24258.pdf Interesting Map Archive: The Joint Research Centre, IES, SOIL Action in the context of the European Digital Archive of Soil Maps (EUDASM) in collaboration with ISRIC (the Netherlands) has developed detailed metadata for 74 European Maps. The current page uses the Image/Maps from the old Archive of European Soil Maps and implements a number of added value products using important Metadata information. Users are welcomed to download the Maps ether in JPG format or in PDF. In case of problems, please report them in the contact points. More European Maps will be available in the near future when the metadata will be assigned to the Image/Maps. Download the Maps for Austria, Denmark, Greece, Bulgaria, Iceland, Latvia , Luxembourg, Malta, Switzerland, Sweden, Turkey, Uzbekistan 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/maps/country_maps/Metadata.cfm Interesting Event: The European Soil Bureau Network (ESBN) Plenary session for 2009 was held in Budapest (Hungary) on 14 - 15 September 2009. After the Plenary, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in collaboration with JRC organised the Workshop "Bridging the Centuries 1909-2009" on 16 - 17 September 2009. Find more information about: The Presentations in the ESNB Plenary 2009 and the Presentations of the Workshop "Bridging the Centuries 1909-2009" The Final Programme of the ESNB Plenary 2009 and the Minutes The Declaration of the European Soil Bureau Network of the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission in support of the CST scientific style conference of the UNCCD held at COP9 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 22-24 September 2009 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/esbn/esbn_meetings_plenary2009.html Publication: Methodological Aspects of Reference Soil Sampling. Field Work on euro-soils profile anaysis and sampling procedures. Pedological Characterization composition analysis. Determination of organochlorine compounds. Evaluation of Laboratory Ringtest. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/eusoils_docs/other/EUR19460.pdf The 2010 Work programme of the Action SOIL (Soil Data and Information Systems) will focus on the following overarching objectives: 1. The establishment of the European Soil Data Centre (ESDAC) as a single focal point for all soil data and information in Europe and the operation of the European Soil Archive Facility for long-term storage of soil samples. 2. The development of procedures and methods for data collection, quality assessment and control, data management and storage, data distribution to Commission and external users, fully complying with INSPIRE. 3. Research and development of advanced modelling techniques, indicators and scenario analyses in relation to the major threats to soil (erosion, decline of organic matter, compaction, salinisation, landslides, sealing, contamination, and loss of soil biodiversity), as identified in the Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection. 4. Supporting the other Commission's services with soil information and scientific as well as technical assistance in negotiating the Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection and the proposal for a Soil Framework Directive through the EU Institutions and their subsequent implementation at Community and Member State level. 5. Extension of the coverage of the European Soil Information System (EUSIS) towards a fully operational Global Soil Information System (GLOSIS), providing relevant soil information for the implementation of multilateral environmental agreements, like UNFCCC, CBD and UNCCD, and contributing to the ground segment of the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES). 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/jrc_soil/WP/WP2010.pdf Important Publication: Biochar application to soils is being considered as a means to sequester carbon (C) while concurrently improving soil functions. The main focus of this report is providing a critical scientific review of the current state of knowledge regarding the effects of biochar application to soils on soil properties, processes and functions. Wider issues, including atmospheric emissions and occupational health and safety associated to biochar production and handling, are put into context. The aim of this review is to provide a sound scientific basis for policy development, to identify gaps in current knowledge, and to recommend further research relating to biochar application to soils. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/eusoils_docs/other/EUR24099.pdf Important Development: In the context of the development of European Environmental Data Centres by the European Commission and the European Environment Agency, a European Soil Data Centre (ESDAC) has been developed by JRC, which also holds a catalogue of European soil data and information. This catalogue holds references to a subset of the most important information and data that can be found in the European Soil Portal; its main advantage is that it features a dedicated search engine for targeted search operations. The site presents also the ESDAC Map Viewer application and will be expanded with more web-based soil applications during 2010. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://esdac.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ The landslides page of the European Soil Portal has undergone a major upgrade. New and revamped sections include principles, impacts, landslides in Europe (occurrence, major historical disasters and online landslide inventories), landslides and the EU Soil Thematic Strategy, JRC role and expertise, JRC expert group, online publications and contact points. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/themes/Landslides/ New Strucure for the Soil Data in the European Soil Portal 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/data.html This section of the portal includes all the Project outputs in terms of data. Soil Action participates in many projects which may result in data outputs which are freely distributed to the public user. There are many projects where distribution of data is not permitted due to copyright issues. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects/ProjectsData.html In the current section of the Soil Portal, data related to soil threats as they have been identified to Soil Thematic Strategy are presented. Detailed informatiion about the Soil Threats can be found in the relevant section of the portal. For some soil threats such as Soil Erosion, Organic Carbon Decline, Compaction, Salinisation and Heavy Metals, JRC holds a number of datasets which are presented here and they are available for downloading. For the rest of soil Threats such as Soil Biodiversity Decline, Landslides and Soil Sealing, the data will be presented when they will be available. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/themes/ThreatsData.html This section provides links to websites from where soil related datasets at Global Scale, National Scale and Regioanl scale could potentially be accessed and/or downloaded. According to INSPIRE (Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe) principles, public users should be provided with easy access to datasets at European, National, Regional and local level. In this spirit, European Soil Data Center (ESDAC) identifies relevant data sets in the World, in many European Countries, in Regions and the modalities for accessing them. Global Data, Soil Databases at 1:250.000, National data, Regional Data! 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ESDB_Archive/soil_data/ExternalData.html New Project Kick off:SafeLand. Living with landslide risk in Europe: Assessment, effects of global change and risk management strategies. The aim of SafeLand is to provide a harmonised framework and methodology for landslide risk assessment and management in Europe's regions and to evaluate landslide risk pattern changes due to global change. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects/Safeland/ New outputs of the iSoil: Interactions between soil related sciences – Linking geophysics, soil science and digital soil mapping . Workpackages Descritpion, Partners, Publications . Guidelines (CEN Workshop, Handbook) . Dissemination Activities (Workshops for stakeholders, decision makers and end-users , Meetings with stakeholders) . Project Meetings . 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects/iSoil/ New Project Kick off: The crucial challenge for the SoilTrEC project is to understand the rates of processes that dictate soil mass stocks and their function within Earth’s Critical Zone (CZ). The CZ is the environment where soils are formed, degrade and provide their essential eco-services. Whist our understanding of the CZ has increased over the last 100 years, further advance requires scientists to cross disciplines and scales to integrate understanding of processes in the CZ, ranging from the nano to the global-scale. The aims of SoilTrEC are to address the priority research areas identified in the EU Soil Thematic Strategy and to provide leadership for a global network of Critical Zone Observatories (CZOs) committed to soils research. 10 Dec 2010 15:06:15 GMT http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/projects/Soiltrec/