What soils data, metrics, and other information do we need, across the full continuum of Scotland's soils from mineral to deep peats, to understand the current land status and to develop policy-relevant insights?
Background
Question Group: Focused on safeguarding and enhancing Scotland’s natural resources, its air, soils, land, water, plants and wildlife, by addressing the drivers of nature loss and environmental degradation. Emphasises restoration of degraded ecosystems, sustainable use of wild species, minimising of pollution, improving the management of invasive non-native species. Targets sustainable use of resources to support thriving communities, nature, and the economy in a changing climate.
Sub-questions: -What soils data would be good enough to pilot, test and validate the soils monitoring framework, and how can it be baselined?
-Which soil health metrics and data are fit for purpose in developing new policies?
-How do we quantify soil erosion / degradation/ compaction rates, could LiDAR data assist?
-How do we quantify large losses to resources/ ecosystem services and whether rates of loss are sustainable?
-What methods and tools do we need to quantify and predict soil emissions/sequestration for a range of future scenarios?
-How can we use new LiDAR data to understand soil quality?
-How can quantification of net soil emissions be used to inform smart farming and soil monitoring?
Next steps
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Source
This question was published as part of the set of ARIs in this document:
Environment natural resources agriculture research strategy 2027 2032
Topics
Research fields
Related UKRI funded projects
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15AGRITECHCAT3. Assessment of SOIL quality using a BIOindicator (SoilBio)
Due to population growth, demand for grain is expected to double worldwide by 2050, increasing pressure on soil. Direct degradation threats to soils are manifold, including erosion, salinisation, compaction, loss of orga...
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Why might this be relevant?
Addresses soil quality assessment, monitoring, and indicators for policy development in the context of Scotland's natural resources.
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BENCHMARKS: Building a European Network for the Characterisation and Harmonisation of Monitoring Approaches for Research and Knowledge on Soils
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Why might this be relevant?
Focuses on building a European network for harmonization of soil monitoring approaches and assessment of soil health indicators for policy innovations.
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Integrating SOil Biodiversity to Ecosystem Services: testing cost-effectiveness of soil indicators to build better land management solutions that effectively implement the soil health and food mission
The aim of the EU Soil Strategy is that by 2050 all soils in the EU are healthy. However, cost-effective indicators for soil biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and ecosystem services are missing, and so are cost-effecti...
Funded by: Horizon Europe Guarantee
Lead research organisation: HARPER ADAMS UNIVERSITY
Why might this be relevant?
Tests cost-effective soil indicators and evaluates policy incentives for soil biodiversity, ecosystem services, and soil health restoration in various land use scenarios.