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Towards Sustainability of Soils and Groundwater for Society Awards

Towards Sustainability of Soils and Groundwater for Society

The Belmont Forum is pleased to announce the awards of a new multilateral and transdisciplinary Collaborative Research Action (CRA) on the theme: Towards Sustainability of Soils and Groundwater for Society. 

The call aims to produce the necessary knowledge and propose solutions to maintain well-functioning soils and groundwater systems in the Critical Zone, or rehabilitate them where degraded, through: 1. Better understanding of the long- and shorter-time dynamics and functions of soils and groundwater, impacts from societal (including economics) decisions, integrative management practices, public policies, and how these systems have been transformed; and 2. Providing avenues, pathways, and narratives toward transformation of management practices of the whole soil and groundwater systems through a fundamental shift of socio-economic actors’ practices and related-decisions making processes.

A total of 9 funders from 8 countries have committed circa 5.4M€ of cash and in-kind resources for the Towards Sustainability of Soils and Groundwater for Society CRA and a total of 17 eligible teams of researchers submitted applications to the call. Following the recommendations of an international panel of experts, the Belmont Forum partners agreed to fund 6 research teams involving 45 researchers from 9 countries. The teams will be conducting research throughout the Americas, Africa, Asia, Arctic and Europe over the next 3 years.

Awarded Projects:

Project Location of lead coordinator Location of wider team
ABRESO – Abandonment and rebound: Societal views on landscape- and land-use change and their impacts on water and soils United States (USA) United States (USA), Chinese Taipei (TWN), France (FRA), Italy (ITA), Japan (JPN)
BLUEGEM – Biosphere and Land Use Exchanges with Groundwater and soils in Earth system Models France (FRA) France (FRA), Chinese Taipei (TWN), Japan (JPN), United States (USA)
INCLUSIVE – Stakeholder-supported decision making for sustainable conjunctive management of soil and groundwater France (FRA) France (FRA), Chinese Taipei (TWN), Russia (RUS), United States (USA)
INTERACTION – Integrated Assessment of Climate Impacts on Ecosystem Functions and Productivity of Critical-Zone Eco-Hydrology United States (USA) Italy (ITA), Qatar (QAT), United States (USA)
PRISMARCTYC – Permafrost degradation impacts on soils, human societies, water resources and carbon cycle France (FRA) France (FRA), Russia (RUS), United States (USA)
VULCAR-FATE – Global change impact on vulnerable carbon reservoirs: carbon sequestration and emissions in soils and waters From the Arctic To the Equator France (FRA) France (FRA), Gabon (GAB), Russia (RUS), Spain (ESP), United States (USA)

The French National Research Agency (ANR) managed the delivery of this call on behalf of the Belmont Forum partners/member countries (detailed below).

Country Partner Partner (Full Title)
Chinese Taipei MoST Ministry of Science and Technology
France AllEnvi French National Alliance for Environmental Research
France ANR National Research Agency
Italy CNR – DSSTTA National Research Council of Italy, Department Earth System Sciences and Environmental Technologies
Japan JST Japan Science and Technology Agency
Qatar QNRF Qatar National Research Fund
Russia RFBR Russian Foundation for Basic Research
Saudi Arabia KAUST King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
United States NSF National Science Foundation