Synthesis of SERENA outcomes

The essential role of soils in the soils – plants – animals – human health nexus relies on their multiple functions and the services they support. Yet, maintaining soil functionality and ensuring healthy soils all over Europe in the next decades remains challenging, due to the human pressures and associated threats. In that context, the EJP Soil SERENA project has developed collaborative actions between scientists and stakeholders and they together have i) acknowledged some concepts related to Soil Quality, Soil Health, Soil-based Ecosystem Services and Soil Threats and their associated indicators, and ii) evaluated maps of some soil-based ecosystem services and soil threats, either under actual conditions or under changes (climate change, land-use changes, modification of agricultural practices), at the local, regional, national or EU scales, by using both specific methods developed in Member States or by using some harmonised cookbooks developed in the project. To facilitate the decision making by stakeholders, bundles of soil threats and soil-based ecosystem services have also been mapped, based on original methodologies developed in the project.