LILAS4SOILS - Mediterranean Network of Sustainable Agriculture Living Labs to foster Carbon Farming Practices and soil health

Objetivo principal:

The general objective of the LILAS4SOILS project is to catalyse the transformation of the European agricultural sector towards a healthy soil and zero-emission system, putting European producers at the global forefront of sustainable practices through a knowledge-sharing and collaboration scheme across relevant public and private actors.

Objetivos, atividades e resultados esperados:

Agriculture soils are being heavily affected by climate change and are highly vulnerable to degradation and desertification, particularly in the Mediterranean and southern regions of the EU. If climate change is not mitigated, yields of crops like wheat, maize and sugar beet could decrease in southern EU by up to 50 % by 2050. Although agriculture has been signaled as a significant contributor to GHG emissions (13% of EU total emissions), it is also one of the sectors with the biggest potential to adapt to and mitigate climate change. In this sense, Carbon Farming appears as a promising solution for soils’ health and for the sustainability of EU agriculture.

LILAS4SOILS will put in place 5 Living Labs (LLs) in 6 countries to co-create the adoption of Carbon Farming solutions within farmers, agri-food businesses, researchers and local authorities, and implement Carbon Farming Practices -CFPs- (peatland management, agroforestry, livestock and manure management, and nutrient management, maintaining soil organic carbon) in a total of 85-100 demo-sites (up to 20 per LL). CFPs impact on soil carbon sequestration, dynamics, effects on soil´s composition, and environmental co-benefits will be assessed through the adoption of standardised Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) technologies.

The 5-year project involves 24 expert partners, +25 stakeholders will be part of each LL for interdisciplinary knowledge exchange (20 co-creation workshops to be held) and +71 farmers will be engaged in CFPs implementation, ensuring the multi-actor approach. 10 training workshops (supported by 21 materials), 10 policy workshops (supported by 2 sets of recommendations per LL), 8 cross-fertilisation and synergies workshops and 2 replication workshops within other regions in EU are envisaged as part of the project's focus on knowledge transfer. Through directed Open Calls, LILAS4SOILS will encourage the participation of 35-50 additional farmers and support the testing of 15 MRV innovative technologies that overcome the limitations of conventional ones.