MED participation in the international conference Soil Health: Current Status and Future Needs

From 7 to 9 October, the international conference Soil Health: Current Status and Future Needs took place in Greece, with the main objective of addressing the urgent challenges related to soil health.

The event brought together researchers to discuss topics such as mitigating and adapting to climate change, preventing desertification and soil degradation, food security and the transition to more sustainable and resilient agricultural systems.

The MED was present at the conference, represented by researcher Helena Guimarães, who was part of the scientific committee and gave a presentation at the session dedicated to integrating science and policy for soil management in a changing world: Durum Wheat Production in Italy – Challenges and Options to Improve Soil Health – on durum wheat production in Italy, addressing the challenges and options for improving soil health.

The conference was also attended by Aya Khamassi, who presented the work developed in her master’s thesis with co-supervision from MED researchers. In her presentation, entitled Challenges of Soil Health Restoration in Tunisian Cereal Production Systems: An Analysis through the Social-Ecological Systems Framework (SES), she highlighted the challenges for restoring soil health in cereal production systems in Tunisia.

This work is the result of the RESCHEDULE project, which began in 2021 and is currently in its final year of implementation, and which has focused on improving soil health to promote more resilient agricultural systems in the Mediterranean region.

The presentations will be included in the special edition of Land Use Policy, entitled ‘Soil Health as a collective challenge: understanding governance challenges from Global to Local Case Studies’, organised as part of the conference and with Helena Guimarães as guest editor.

At the end of the event, the MED team of researchers conducted the workshop ‘Soil Health: Knowledge Gaps and Future Challenges’ as part of the Soils for Europe project within the European Union’s Soil Mission. At the workshop, participants were invited to collaborate in defining a strategic path for research and innovation on soil health. Based on the Soils for Europe roadmaps focused on soil erosion and degradation, participants worked in groups to identify knowledge gaps and establish future priorities for research in this area.