Predicting soil health to protect ecosystems

Data and Action for Soil Health

PHISHES seeks to bridge the gap between soil health data and actions, providing much-needed predictive capability in terms of the consequences of actions on the provision of soil functions and associated ecosystem services, taking into account soil use, soil contamination and various drivers such as climate change.

At the heart of PHISHES is the development of a Digital Platform containing workflows and tools quantifying the effect of management actions on the environment. The tools will be combinations of data processing procedures and further developed modules on top of existing cutting-edge numerical models, such as the distributed hydrological system MIKE SHE and the DAISY agro-ecological model of the soil-plant-atmosphere system.

The gap between science and policy is bridged in practice by a Decision Support System that will display the concrete findings of the PHISHES project and actionable recommendations for policy affecting soil health.

Real-Life Case Studies

To ensure practical application and relevance, PHISHES modelling results are applied and tested by four case studies across Europe, focusing on diverse environmental challenges:

• The Zelivka River Basin in the Czech Republic, analysing soil management’s influence on drinking water quality at catchment scale.
• The Koprzywianka River in Poland, covering water withdrawals / irrigation on agricultural land.
• The Airport in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden, looking at efficiency of mitigation measures of PFAS contamination at sub catchment scale.
• The Rotterdam Urban Area in the Netherlands, evaluating the use of green infrastructure to improve resilience and sustainability of urban environments.

Additionally, a Soil Laboratory in France will examine the fate and transport of PFAS from soil to groundwater under controlled conditions.

By integrating cutting-edge models and real-world case studies, the PHISHES project will provide valuable insights into sustainable soil management. Moreover, with its focus on translating scientific findings into actionable recommendations, PHISHES represents a significant advance in the preservation of soil health and the sustainability of ecosystem services.