Looking at the EU Soil Mission: When it comes to Science Communication, the medium is the message
In many ways soil is the forgotten child of the climate crisis, even though healthy soil is essential to our daily lives. Under the EU Missions framework, soil health has entered the spotlight of EU research and innovation (R&I). This article looks at the Horizon Europe ORCaSa project, its contributions to the EU’s dedicated ‘Mission Soil’, and why niche science communication is essential to understanding and addressing the global climate crisis.
According to the European Environment Agency, 80% of Europe’s land surface has been shaped by human activities. Transport, industry, agriculture, and other activities, have led to increased carbon emissions in our atmosphere. Healthy soil has properties that enable the removal of carbon emissions (carbon sequestration) and, thus, can help regulate the climate. If soil is degraded, it throws the balance of our ecosystem and food systems.
With growing concerns around soil health, the European Commission has launched a ‘Soil Deal for Europe’, one of the handful of EU Missions within the Horizon Europe research and innovation programme 2021-2027. The main goal of Mission Soil is to create 100 living labs and lighthouses to lead the transition towards healthy soils by 2030.
There is no denying the essential role soil plays in our ecosystem and our world’s future. However, when compared with the other EU Missions topics, soil might seem less palpable than, say, beating cancer, tackling climate change, or restoring our ocean. By this I mean, we might not have a clear idea of what soil health means or looks like, and there are many different soil-related processes, sectors and types of soils (not just agricultural land) that need to be taken into account.
This lack of public awareness has unearthed a need for strategic communication about soil health (otherwise known as ‘soil literacy’). The remainder of this article will focus on one EU-funded research project that is supporting and contributing to Mission Soil objectives related to soil carbon.
The ORCaSa project: Cultivating knowledge on soil carbon
Hand in hand with the international “4 per 1000” initiative, the ORCaSa project (running from 2022-2025) fosters international cooperation across the scientific community, policymakers, organisations, the private sector, and other stakeholders working on innovative techniques for soil carbon sequestration and storage.
What is soil carbon, and how is it related to achieving the climate targets outlined in Mission Soil? Typically, plants store organic carbon in soil to grow, and like the ocean, soil works as a huge carbon sink capable of absorbing large amounts of greenhouse gases (carbon storage). This mechanism helps to mitigate carbon emissions into the atmosphere and regulate the climate. Soil carbon figures in four of the eight Mission Soil objectives; namely: Objective 1 (reduce desertification); Objective 2 (conserve soil organic carbon stocks); Objective 5 (prevent erosion); Objective 6 (improve soil structure to enhance soil biodiversity).
Communication or dissemination: What are we talking about?
Arctik, Technopolis’s Brussels-based office specialised in communications, has taken the lead on editorial creation, publication, social media and outreach across all project channels. This might sound like a technicality, but I am talking about communication as opposed to dissemination, which is focused on making knowledge and results publicly and freely available. ‘Communication’ is not just about sharing project outputs – data, publications, etc. – with the scientific community, but also informing different audiences about project activities.
With ORCaSa, we have a big – but exciting – challenge when setting up a communication strategy. As you might guess, the soil family is huge and not all members play the same role in storing and/or sequestering carbon. We can see how this challenge plays out when crafting clear messages for all the relevant target audiences. This brings us to a unique feature of the project: it takes all types of soils into account, including forests, pastures, agriculture and soil health in cities all over the world. Furthermore, soil issues (e.g. carbon emissions and absorption) can be significantly context-dependant. For example, India, which ranks first as a major agricultural country, is very interested in these issues, while other regions might need more convincing (for instance, if they do not have democratically elected governments or are involved in conflicts). ORCaSa works with five international regional nodes (South Asia, Africa, North America, Latin America, and Australia Pacific) to provide better access to research, methods and practices related to soil carbon. The international reach, while a distinguishing element, remains a particularly challenging feature of the project from a communications perspective.
This brings me to an important consideration when communicating about EU research projects: the science is important, but not exclusively. In terms of how we communicate about project results, it has been important to feature voices from the policy context. It is important to craft practical examples and messages aimed at a non-expert audience, who may not be aware of the key. For instance, we conducted an interview with Kerstin Rosenow, Head of Unit for Research and Innovation at the European Commission’s DG for Agriculture and Rural Development.
Planting seeds for understanding and visibility
Now that we have discussed the different communication issues for ORCaSa, I want to look at two project outputs: (1) the launch of the first Soil Carbon International Research Consortium (Soil Carbon IRC) and (2) a virtual knowledge-sharing tool (Impact4Soil). What more can be said about the communication involved and how it relates to the Mission?
The Soil Carbon IRC: Building a global community
The Soil Carbon IRC was launched in November 2023 during the European Soil Mission Week in Madrid. As of December 2024, there are around 108 signatories in over 38 countries from research organisations, but also the farming sector, environmental agencies, national R&I agencies and foundations, and more. One year-in the Soil Carbon IRC has already made strides, and it is also expected to contribute to Mission Soil by adding a fully international dimension, in line with the Paris Agreement and other international climate accords.
The Soil Carbon IRC also aims at proposing a harmonised Monitoring Reporting and Verification (MRV) framework applicable in different contexts and situations. ‘Harmonised framework’ might sound like an empty buzzword, but in actuality, stronger claims are being made. The main message goes beyond researchers standards for soil-related data and modelling. Communicating through educational tools and trainings is one way to transmit messages about MRV. This is why the ORCaSa project will be releasing an ‘MRV cookbook’ with modular tutorials and ‘recipes’ based on input from the IRC members and for different regional contexts.
IMPACT4SOIL: A soil knowledge-sharing platform
The Impact4Soil platform, which was just launched in May 2024, offers real-time geospatial soil-related data, scientific evidence and publications, best practices, datasets, and more – all scientifically verified. It is a novel tool connecting accurate, up-to-date data and resources – importantly, not just for researchers but also policymakers developing evidence-based policies, industry partners involved in innovative soil treatment techniques, and also citizen scientists.
This virtual knowledge-sharing space might sound innovative in theory, but what about in practice? We have created different types of content (including an informative video) to promote the features of the platform through a series of social media campaigns.
So far, we are seeing the community grow in real time. User engagement element is key. It has been important to engage the IRC signatories; one of the IRC’s activities is to use and contribute resources to the platform.
The Mission legacy: Building a bridge between scientists and citizens
Two-thirds of the way through the ORCaSa project, we have seen how science communication is helping to further Mission ambitions across the wider spectrum of climate and environmental challenges. We have seen how this communication can bring research and innovation closer to society and to citizens’ daily lives and inform policy and behaviour change.
This change is gradual; we have planted to seeds but we still do not know concretely what these behaviour changes will look like. A true test of the ORCaSa project’s success will be if the Soil Carbon IRC and Impact4Soil platform continue after ORCaSa has ended through the Mission activities. For this, current communication efforts need to focus on stakeholder buy-in and commitment.
