The EU Soil Day, held last 6 November at the Committee of the Regions, represented a unique opportunity to address regional and local challenges in soil health. The event, organised by the Region of Murcia in partnership with ERRIN and the HuMUS project with the support of the Spanish EU Presidency, brought together regions, researchers, soil projects and soil enthusiasts to explore the territorial dimensions of soil health.

ERRIN moderated the session ‘Regional and local dimension supported by the EU Mission Soil to improve soil health’, in a dialogue with the Mission Soil secretariat on the crucial role that regional and local authorities play to make the implementation of the Mission successful.
During the session, the coordinator of the HuMUS project emphasised the importance of engaging all ecosystem actors in advancing on the local soil challenges and launched the cascade funding call that will support 20 regions and municipalities with a lump-sum to boost participatorygovernance methods and tools for soil quality and health governance in the territories involved. 

The closing session was a unique opportunity for ERRIN members to present grassroots examples of inspiring governance models. Stakeholders from Cities Northern Netherlands (NL), Pomorskie (PL), Oslo Region European Office (NO), Flanders (BE), showed how farmers, researchers, citizens, cities and regional authorities, are joining forces to improve soil health in a collaborative approach.

ERRIN through its Bioeconomy WG will continue supporting the regions to successfully implement the Mission and boost the number of local stakeholders committed to a transition towards healthy soils. As from January 2024, ERRIN will speed up the implementation of the soil living labs and lighthouses contributing to the implementation of the Mission through its involvement in the SOILL Start-up project. Learn more about ERRIN involvement in the Mission Soil here.

To further engage with the Mission Soil Week, taking place next 21 – 23 November in Madrid, interested participants are encouraged to register to attend online through this link.

Additionally, cities and regions aiming to boost their local soil challenges through participatory approaches can apply to the HuMUS project cascade funding by 29 February 2024 here.