Launch of the Soil Atlas 2024

Healthy soils are vital for climate mitigation and adaptation because they store more carbon than forests. They also retain large amounts of water, helping to buffer against droughts, heavy rains, and floods. Effective climate policies must also respect people’s land rights, as many nature-based carbon removal strategies require extensive land use.

The Soil Atlas 2024 illustrates the alarming consequences of global soil degradation while highlighting the immense potential of sustainable and equitable land use practices for climate protection, biodiversity enhancement, and healthy food production.

This high-level event, taking place alongside climate COP29, will explore these critical issues from both European and international perspectives, focusing on the necessary actions at the EU level to protect our soils in Europe and beyond. This is particularly salient as a new EU legislative cycle has kick-started and a new European Commission work programme will be unveiled.

Programme

10:00: Registration and welcome coffee

10:30: Welcome and presentation of the Soil Atlas, with inputs by:

• Dr. Imme Scholz, President, Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung
• Florika Fink-Hooijer, Director-General for Environment, European Commission
• Lena Luig, Head of International Agricultural Policy Division, Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, Berlin
• Larissa Stiem-Bhatia, Programme Lead - Nature-based Solutions, TMG Think Tank for Sustainability
• Júlia Dolce, Editor Environmental Justice, Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Brazil, and contributor to the Soil Atlas 2024
• Dr. Jes Weigelt, Deputy Director, TMG Think Tank for Sustainability

Panel discussion moderated by Natasha Foote, Freelance agrifood reporter & podcaster, with:

• Jutta Paulus, Member of the European Parliament, Greens/EFA
• Dr. Imme Scholz, President, Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung
• Patrizia Heidegger, Deputy Secretary General and Director for European Governance, Sustainability and Global Policies, European Environmental Bureau

Q&A with the audience

12:00 Light lunch

Venue: Press Club Brussels Europe, Rue Froissart 95, 1040 Brussels and online

Register here.

For more information about the Soil Atlas 2024, please contact Louise Mollenhauer.

For press and media requests, please contact Joan Lanfranco.