Advancing in the application of innovative phytomanagement strategies in polluted sites in southwest Europe | |
NEWSLETTER #1 |
June 2021 | |||
New Phy2SUDOE sitesPhy2SUDOE will try to find solutions to recover contaminated sites in southern Europe (Spain, France and Portugal) by using phytomanagement strategies. Phytomanagement is a technology that uses plants to create value-added products, such as wood, resin, bioenergy, essential oils or ecocatalysts, and ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration, erosion control or maintenance of biodiversity, while remediating a contaminated soil. Phytomanagement aims to be an alternative to traditional technologies for the remediation of contaminated soils, which are generally based on physical-chemical techniques that are costly and often have a negative impact on the ecosystem. For this reason, in recent decades the use of biological technologies to remediate contaminated soils is being promoted, since they are cheaper and more respectful of the integrity of the ecosystem. A novel aspect of Phy2SUDOE is the presence of partners from very different institutions: in addition to universities and R&D centers, companies, administrations and site managers take part in this project, which facilitates the link between the creation of solutions and management strategies. New sitesPhy2SUDOE builds on an already established transnational network of sites (PhytoSUDOE Network) which will have been completed with 8 new sites to increase the number of scenarios covered.
The importance of soilSoil is a natural resource that performs key functions for our survival and well-being, such as the production of food, fiber and fuel; the decomposition of organic matter; the recycling of nutrients; the purification of water; the sequestration of carbon; the maintenance of biodiversity, etc. That is why several of the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in its Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development are linked, directly or indirectly, to soil protection. As a consequence of past human activities that were not very respectful to the environment, we currently have a high number of degraded sites due to the presence of contaminated soils, which prevents or limits their possible use for agricultural and forestry production, the creation of public parks, the establishment of new industrial activities, etc. Progress of the projectOnly 6 months have passed since the start of the project and it coincided with the winter, but our consortium members already got to work to perform some site research, and fieldwork has been carried out at several of the sites. Details of those works can be found in the links below.
New publicationsIt is still too early for Phy2SUDOE members to have published articles related to the current project, but they are still publishing some in relation to the previous PhytoSUDOE project.
Stay tuned…On 8th July, the 1st Phy2SUDOE workshop will be held online, and European experts will share their knowledge on soils and phytomanagement with anyone interested in those topics. We will send you updated information soon. We hope you will be able to take part!
Contact and further informationSubscribeTo subscribe to this newsletter, please send an email with the subject SUBSCRIBE to phytosudoe@gmail.com or use the website form. UnsubscribeYou have received this mail because your contact data is in our database of stakeholders or you subscribed to our newsletter. If you don’t want to receive more information from Phy2SUDOE, please send an email with the subject UNSUBSCRIBE to phytosudoe@gmail.com. Contact detailsCarlos Garbisu Crespo (Coordinator) Neiker (Instituto Vasco de Investigación y Desarrollo Agrario) Parque Tecnológico de Bizkaia C/ Berreaga, 1, E-48160 Derio (Bizkaia) Spain +34 944 034 300 cgarbisu@neiker.eus | |||
The project Phy2SUDOE (SOE4/P5/E1021) is supported |
