This website contains the main scientific results of the iSQAPER project, as presented in the project deliverables. Deliverables are being written and added to the website throughout the period of the project until it ends in April 2020. Here is the current status of the content.
Openly available:
Key messages: »Briefing papers; »Video clips; »Infographics; »Scientific publications
Soil quality: »Soil quality - a critical review; »Management practices and soil quality
Land management: »Impact of promising land managment practices
Available, but currently restricted to project partners only:
SQAPP: »Designing SQAPP the soil quality assessment tool; »Stakeholder feedback on SQAPP (beta version); »Agricultural management practices
Soil quality: »Visual soil assessment;
Zones & systems: »Pedoclimatic Zones of Europe; »Pedoclimatic zones of China; »Crop & livestock systems; »Spatial analysis of climate, soil & crop types
Land management: »Effect of farming on soil quality; »Effect of management practices on soil quality in case study sites;
Policy: »Grounding sustainability; »Protecting Europe's soils
Good soil quality is of fundamental importance to both local and global food production and to ecosystem resilience. Agricultural soils world-wide are subject to threats and pressures including: increasing demand for food and biofuels, changing diets, land degradation and associated productivity decline, all made worse by climate change. Reliable knowledge and data help land users assess their soils and make well-informed decisions about its use. When information on alternative land use practices is easily available, it supports farmers in improving their land management.
Booklets, factsheets and video clips provide information about soil quality in succinct and easy to read formats.
An app for mobile devices anywhere in the world, providing location-specific soil quality information and sustainable land use management options
Innovative methods to assess soil quality in different pedo-climatic zones, integrating soil science, agricultural and land management practices.
Spatial analysis of crop and livestock systems in the different pedoclimatic zones of Europe and China.
Empirical evidence of the effects of land management practices on soil quality, shared between farmers and scientists. The effects of widespread adoption of sustainable land management practices generated from existing practices and databases.
Recommendations for the integration of activities that promote soil quality and sustainable land management into regional, national and EU level policies.