Workshop on soil functions and spatial planning in the Alps
Land take has been identified as a major problem. This issue is especially pressing in the Alpine area, where multiple land use demands meet particularly limited and already intensively used spaces. Facing various land-use demands, the Alpine area is not yet close to reaching key goals such as land degradation neutrality by 2030 (UN SDGs) and net-zero land take by 2050 (EU). To realise these goals step-by-step, tools and processes are needed to enable fact-based decision making and to thereby safeguard high-quality soils. The assessment of soil functions can be a valuable tool for soil protection and for spatial planning focusing on a transdisciplinary and easy understanding of the soil quality of each location.
This Workshop was jointly organised by the Alpine Convention working groups on Soil Protection as well as Spatial Planning and Sustainable Development with the support of the Permanent Secretariat of the Alpine Convention and was financed by the German Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban Development and Building as well as the Austrian Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology.