Facing policy challenges with inter- and transdisciplinary soil research focused on the SDG's

Abstract

Abstract. Our current information society, populated by increasingly well informed and critical stakeholders, presents a challenge to both the policy and science arena's. The introduction of the UN Sustainable Development Goals offers a unique and welcome opportunity to direct joint activities towards these goals. Soil science, even though it is not mentioned as such, plays an important role in realizing a number of SDG's focusing on food, water, climate, health, biodiversity and sustainable land use. A plea is made for a systems approach to land use studies, to be initated by soil scientists, in which these land-related SDG's are considered in an integrated manner. To connect with policy makers and stakeholders two approaches are functional, following: (i) the policy cycle when planning and executing research, which includes signaling, design, decision, implementation and evaluation. Many current research projects spend little time on signaling which may lead to disengagement of stakeholders. Also, implementation is often seen as the responsibility of others while it is crucial to demonstrate – if successful – the relevance of soil science and (ii) the DPSIR approach when following the policy cycle in land-related research, distinguishing external drivers, pressures, impacts and responses to land-use change that affect the state of the land in past, present and future. Soil science cannot by itself realize SDG's and interdisciplinary studies on Ecosystem Services (ES) provide an appropriate channel to define contributions of soil science in terms of the seven soil functions. ES, in turn, can contribute to addressing the six SDG's (2, 3, 6, 12, 13 and 15) with an environmental, land-related character. SDG's have a societal focus and future soil science research can only be successful if stakeholders are part of the research effort in transdisciplinary projects, based on the principle of time-consuming "joint-learning". The internal organization of the soil science discipline is not yet well – tuned to the needs of inter – and transdisciplinary approaches.

The significance of soils and soil science towards realization of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

“…The first of these is the policy cycle when planning and executing research, which includes signalling and definition of a given problem taking into account the opinions of all involved, design, decision, implementation and evaluation (e.g. Althaus et al, 2007;Bouma et al, 2007). In many current research projects, most of the time is spent on design, and relatively little time is spent signalling, which may lead to hastily conceived plans and disengagement of stakeholders who feel left out.…”

“…Politicians in democratic systems in the information age tend to be risk-averse and focused on activities that can generate favourable media exposure to their voters in the short term (Bouma and Montanarella, 2016). They are constantly approached by lobbyists, and choosing potential "winners" appears to become ever more important.…”

Stakeholders' perception of the relevance of water and sediment connectivity in water and land management

“…In order to ensure that connectivity approaches and tools are transferred to stakeholders, it is necessary to actively engage stakeholders preparing legislation, standards, and/or guidelines, as well as policy makers. According to Bouma and Montarella (), scientists play a specific role in linking policy and stakeholders in environmental management issues, but it is first necessary to intervene with the cycle of policy making. This includes signalling (e.g., identifying problems and defining goals), through design and decision, to implementation.…”

“…This includes signalling (e.g., identifying problems and defining goals), through design and decision, to implementation. Such cooperation proved to be effective on multiple scales (Bouma & Montarella, ) and should be applied at international and EU levels considering the legislative environment in Europe. This process would actively engage connectivity scientists in order to prepare new policies (e.g., in connection to European Commission Soil Thematic Strategy).…”

“…European scientists are aiming to transfer contemporary connectivity tools to applied sciences and stakeholders working in water and land management (Connecteur WG Society, ). Despite numerous studies using stakeholder analysis to investigate stakeholders' perceptions of water and land management, conflict negotiations, and participatory environmental management and policy (e.g., Bouma & Montarella, ; Grimble & Chan, ; Lestrelin, Vigiak, Pelletreau, Keohavong, & Valentin, ; Nigussie et al, ; Reeds et al, ; Shikangalah, Paton, & Jeltsch, ; Sjögersten et al, ; Steinhäußer, Siebert, Steinführer, & Hellmich, ; Subirós et al, ; Tripathi, Krishnan Sengupta, & Patra, ), it remains unclear how connectivity is integrated in stakeholders' understanding of water and land management across Europe. Furthermore, little is known on how connectivity and recently developed connectivity tools (including highly specialized methods for connectivity measurement approaches, connectivity modelling, and indices of connectivity) are applied to management challenges by stakeholders.…”