Soil health is rapidly moving from scientific discussion to concrete European policy — and the new EU Soil Monitoring Law marks a turning point. To explore what this means in practice, we invite you to join our webinar on July 1st (15:00), which takes participants through the full journey from EU policy to practical implementation. The webinar will be in English. You can find the exact programme in the document attached. You can register here.
We look forward to an inspiring session that brings science, policy and practice together.
Opening & Introduction (5 min)
Everhard van Essen (NBV chair; Aequator Groen + Ruimte)
• Welcome
• Program overview, outline of the session
1. Soil health and EU Soil policies – The EU Soil Monitoring Law (20 min)
Nils Broothaerts (EU Soil Observatory, Joint Research Centre, European Commission)
• Overview of the Framework for Soil Protection in the EU
• Overview of the Soil Monitoring Law; monitoring obligations & indicators
• Opportunities for science and practice
• The role of the EU Soil Observatory
2. The Soil Mission – European response to the Soil Law (15 min)
Fenny van Emond (Soil data and sensing at ISRIC and WEN) International response
• Soil Mission Living Labs & Lighthouses Mission objectives
• Role of innovation and data
• Links with national initiatives, developments in other countries
3. Case Study Netherlands – Indicators & validation; how do we measure soil health? (10 min)
Jana Zwetsloot (Knowledge coordinator Soil health at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food security, Fisheries and Nature)
• Approach and first results
• CCNL project & lessons for scaling
4. Soil Law and the forest/nature & urban/industrial perspective (10 min)
Saskia Keesstra (WUR / Climate-KIC)
• What the Soil Law means for nature and cities
• Opportunities for integrated monitoring
5. Extension services perspective (10 min)
Sander Maes (Arvesta, Belgium/Neth./Germany/France)
• How the extension services sector prepares for Soil Law requirements
• Bottom-up approach
6. Actual monitoring: harmonisation of soil health testing (10 min)
Maurits Voogt (Eurofins)
• Routine testing & harmonisation across Europe
• From scattered practices to scalable standardized solutions
7. Reflection on the afternoon / panel discussion (10 min)
Saskia Visser (Climate KIC director of strategic partnership and opportunity development)
• Scientific reflection on policy–practice alignment
• What is realistic before 2030
• Key gaps & opportunities for Europe
Closure (5 min)
Everhard van Essen (NBV chair; Aequator Groen + Ruimte)