Information-based Strategies for Land Remediation

The ISLANDR research activities are designed to provide tools and methods so as to support: (1) the delineation of polluted soils across Europe, (2) an evidence-based assessment of the risks posed by polluted soils, (3) the promotion of sustainable and risk-based land management practices, (4) the inclusion of a wider valuation approach in financial and investment cases, and (5) a closer integration of land contamination and spatial planning decision-making. Lessons learnt and experience gained throughout the project duration will be used to (6) deliver key policy-relevant findings related to the Soil Strategy, the proposed Soil Health Law, and other areas of policy where soils are crucial.

In order to road-test the project’s findings, seven test areas across Europe have been identified. To begin with, the ISLANDR Test Areas (ITAs) will provide a real-world context for the planned research activities. More concretely, the ITAs have been selected to cover different land use types, such as urban, peri-urban, rural, agro-forestry, mining, wetlands and coastal areas. Furthermore, the ITAs are characterized by both point and diffuse sources of pollution, as well as by different soil pollution types, such as organic, inorganic, as well as contaminants of emerging concern.

• Finland
• Belgium
• France
• Greece
• Italy
• Kosovo
• Malta
• Poland
• Portugal
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• The Netherlands
• UK

IRMCo leads the work package dealing with Communication, dissemination and exploitation. This involves the design and development of a Multi-Actor Communication Framework, the project website and its social media channels on Twitter and LinkedIn, project promotional materials, as well as the establishing and maintaining of synergies with other ongoing EU funded research projects, including HorizonEurope funded ‘sister’ projects. IRMCo also leads the tasks pertaining to the analysis of local value perceptions towards soil contamination, soil remediation and healthy soils, and oversees the stakeholder engagement dimension in the project, not least the engagement with the local communities in the ISLANDR Test Areas and society at large.

The main scientific research and innovation outcomes of the ISLANDR project will be presented in a manner that is intended to make these outcomes more accessible to the general public. Each write-up will be made accessible through the project website as the project evolves, while by the end of the project, these write-ups will be collated in a manuscript, entitled ‘The Islandr Voyage‘.

Edited by IRMCo, the manuscript is foreseen to rely on inputs from all partners in the ISLANDR Partnership, thereby adopting the same approach and manner in which IRMCo produced A Practical Toolkit addressed to Mineral Exploration and Mining Companies which was published in September 2021. A digital copy of the latter manuscript is available from the NEXT project website, http://www.new-exploration.tech/, through this link.