Our core values

It is SOILveR’s mission to improve our use of soil and our management of land to sustainably protect societies and ecosystems for future generations.There is a growing sense of urgency that unless we improve our use of soil and management of land, societies will suffer and ecosystems will be damaged.

• Soil provides humans with key services related to several of the global Sustainability Development Goals formulated by the United Nations. While many severe threats to this resource have been recognized, soil and land degradation goes on.
• Stakeholders in Europe have identified many knowledge needs related to soil and land – these were e.g. compiled in the Strategic Research Agenda by INSPIRATION and are now calling for action.
• Soil and land research needs coordination across regions, disciplines and stakeholder groups to properly address these transnational knowledge needs.

Form a targeted platform around knowledge development and sharing is key to leverage cross-country collaboration around soil and land management. Our intention is to:

• Fund integrated soil and land research aimed at addressing the knowledge needs identified in the INSPIRATION SRA and by others, and of joint interest of members funding the calls. We believe that transnational collaboration provides an added-value to the research and its impact.
• Avoid excessive administrative processes and ensure flexibility in research funding coordination.
• Fund implementable research and focus on its uptake by end-users, at all levels from the national to the local.
• Contribute to cross border and cross disciplinary knowledge exchange by organizing and participating in events and by sharing knowledge in other ways.
• Welcome exchange and cooperation with other initiatives for the benefit of better soil and land management in Europe and elsewhere.