On Wednesday, 30 April 2025, from 14:00 - 16:00 CET, Renew Europe, University of Coimbra, and PAN Europe hosted a ‘Soils for Europe’ hybrid event at the European Parliament. Organised within SOLO’s framework, the event acted as a follow-up to the trilogue agreement on the proposal for a Soil Monitoring and Resilience Directive that took place on 9 April 2025.

The introduction of the event was led by Martin Hojsík, Vice-President of the European Parliament, whilst the meeting was moderated by SOLO coordinator Carlos Guerra (University of Coimbra). The latter emphasised that the Soil Monitoring and Resilience Law offers a clear direction for future soil-related efforts, enabling large-scale actions on soil health. Whilst the law provides hope and directions, it is not without its challenges, as there is still a lack of standardised soil monitoring frameworks. 

The event provided an opportunity for experts in the field to discuss the potential of the Soil Monitoring and Resilience Law, while acknowledging the challenges that remain due to the lack of harmonised monitoring standards. 

Scientists from EU-funded projects shared their expertise, with a large portion of discussions focusing on the importance of monitoring, policy support and farmer engagement. Current efforts across such projects aim to fill these gaps by providing knowledge and strategies, with a broad agreement on the importance of treating soil as a living system requiring active management and clear benchmarks. 

You can find the programme from the meeting below, accompanied by the presentation of each speaker, as well as a recording of the event: 

14:00-14:05: Welcome

Martin Hojsík, Vice-President of the European Parliament

14:05-14:15 Introduction - A Soil Monitoring and Resilience Law for the EU: common ground for soils

Kristine De Schamphelaere, PAN Europe, Soils for Europe: Presentation 

Carlos Guerra, University of Coimbra, Soils for Europe: Presentation 

14:15-14:25: Soil health indicators and monitoring - relevant scientific findings from EJP SOIL

Rajasekaran Murugan, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Boku University, Vienna: Presentation  

14:25-14:35: From monitoring to steering soil functioning

Paul Bodelier, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Wageningen: Presentation 

14:35-14:45: Soil Health, Pesticides & Soil Ecological Engineering

Marcel van der Heijden, Agroscope, University of Zurich: Presentation 

14:45-14:55: Land Managers and Soils: from care to agency

Teresa Pinto-Correia, University of Évora: Presentation 

14:55-15:05: Working on soil health in Flemish Fields 

Joeri Dewelde, farmer, Hoeve Begijns agro, Belgium: Presentation 

15:05-15:15: Living Labs for Soil Health

Wim De Kinderen, ENoLL (European Network of Living Labs) - SOILL: Presentation 

15:15-15:30: Institutional level planning towards a model for co-constructing a soil monitoring system in anticipation of the ESML in Portugal

André Daniel Silva Trindade, Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development (DGADR): Presentation 

15:30-15:50: Questions and informal discussion

15:50-16:00: Closing remarks by organisers