The Soil Agenda event, held on December 14th at INIAV - National Institute of Agricultural and Veterinary Research, in Oeiras, gathered a diverse panel of speakers to discuss the Soil and Water, including the Secretary of State for Agriculture, Gonçalo Rodrigues, and Martin Kováč, former Secretary of State for the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Slovakia.
Promoted by CHANGE - Global Change and Sustainability Institute, and co-organized with PlanAPP (Competences Center for Planning, Policies, and Prospective of Public Administration), INIAV, and the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development, the event featured the presentation of the Soil and Water 2030 project. The project, initiated in October 2023 and developed by CHANGE in partnership with PlanAPP, will identify concrete objectives and targets of public policy for strategies to mitigate emissions and adapt to climate change related to these two resources.
The role of the Soil and Water nexus in combating water scarcity and the integration of the theme into public policies were some of the topics addressed by the panel of speakers, along with issues related to the Soil and Agriculture Exploration, and Soil and Regional Perspectives binomials.
Speakers and commentators from various sectors - academia, public administration, and the private sector - and operating at different scales - regional, national, European - brought multiple and complementary perspectives to the debate and allowed for the complexity of the topic to be considered.
As a result of the event and the ensuing reflections, the importance of soil, its proper management, the creation and sharing of knowledge, and finally, their integration into public policy, were highlighted. The importance of co-construction and the involvement of multiple actors, including Farmers, Academia, Associations, Administration, and Policymakers in this co-creative process, was also clearly emphasized as an essential factor for integrated and sustainable soil and water management.