The “Nature Based Solutions for Soil Management NBSOIL” project is a four-year EU-funded project coordinated by the Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation IUNG in Poland. It aims to create and test a learning pathway for existing and aspiring soil advisors, providing them with the necessary tools and knowledge to develop a holistic and nature-based solutions approach to the soil.
NBSOIL will focus on 6 multifunctional nature-based solution (NBS) categories to develop a holistic approach to land management and soil health, fully in line with the IUCN Global Standard for NBS (IUCN, 2020): (i) organic fertilisers from locally available biowastes, (ii) cover crops, (iii) paludiculture, (iv) forest diversification, (v) bioremediation, and (vi) blue – green infrastructure in urban and periurban areas. NBSOIL builds on previous research results and available Open-Source technology to deliver the following NBSOIL thematic packs: Knowledge base, Soil Academy, Soil Health assessment, monitoring and mapping resources, Policy Navigator, and Marketplace.
EXPECTED OUTCOMES:
Approximately 300 participants from 8 countries (PL, AT, CH, UK, FR, NL, IT, ES) are expected to complete the full 2 years of training offered in 6 languages (English, Polish, German, Dutch, French, Italian, Spanish). The 2 years training programme will provide an immersive, interactive, flexible learning experience, through an introductory Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) followed by four advanced modules on 1. Soil and NBS, 2. Living Labs facilitation, 3. Digital tools for Soil Health monitoring and 4. Improving soil related decision-making in business and policy.
The role of alchemia-nova
The project partner alchemia-nova contributes their experience in the bio-based, circular economy as an innovative, research-driven SME to demonstrate bioremediation as a natural-based solution (NBS) to tackle soil pollution and promote the reuse of polluted soils. Concretely, alchemia-nova undertakes active treatment of two contaminated soil sites as an “on-site demonstration trial” in Austria and Italy: an abandoned peri-urban industrial site and an abandoned mining site, with a set of measures, including soil amendments at an area of approx. 1ha. The measurement parameters are soil pollutants, including heavy metals, PAHs and microplastics. The researchers at alchemia-nova will apply a wide range of approaches and methods, using bacteria, fungi and plants, tackling pollutants such as microplastics in soil and recover valuable metals after phytoextraction from the soil. The expected outcome is a measurable reduction of soil pollutants per ppm. The expected product at the end of the demonstration trial is a technology package for the soil advisors trained by the project and potential clients (public and private) as part of consultancy services.
Project coordinator
Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation (IUNG)
Partners:
Soil Association – Innovative Farmers SA
International Union for the Conservation of Nature IUCN
University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences BOKU
Basque Centre for Climate Change BC3
Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL
Agrisat Iberia SL AGRISAT
REVOLVE
Agricultural Advisory Centre in Brwinów CDR
Centre National d’Agroecologie CNA
Instituto Técnico Agronómico Provincial ITAP
Chamber of Agriculture and Forestry in Styria CAFS
Łukasiewicz – Institute of Aviation ILOT
University of Torino UNITO
Aeres University of Applied Sciences – AERES