ISLANDR – Information-Based Strategies for Land Remediation

Introduction

The ISLANDR research project receives 5,8 million € funding from the Horizon Europe programme for research and innovation under the Grant Agreement No. 101079459. The funding of the Associated Partners from Switzerland and United Kingdom is provided by the Swiss Government and by the government of United Kingdom, respectively (1,1 million € altogether).

The ISLANDR project is cross-disciplinary and multi-actor and aims to promote the delivery of Green Deal objectives, in particular Zero Pollution by reducing soil pollution and enhancing restoration.

ISLANDR will provide tools and methods to support: (1) The delineation of soil pollution sources, (2) The assessment of risks, (3) The implementation of sustainable and risk-based land management (SRBLM), (4) The inclusion of wider valuation approach in financial and investment cases, (5) Closer integration of land contamination and spatial planning decision-making, and (6) Key policy relevant findings related to the Soil Strategy, proposed Soil Health Law and other areas of policy where soils are crucial.

ISLANDR takes a targeted approach in existing knowledge base and has designed its outcomes to be easily assimilated by multiple target groups including policy interests, planners and regulators, site managers and their service providers. Support for capacity building is ensured as well as service to the needs of long-term repositories (e.g., EU Soil Observatory – EUSO). Innovations include using Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) to provide a robust valuation for parallel benefits to improve business cases; a technical basis for soil functionality as a “soil health” receptor, and operating window analyses of low input remediation.

ISLANDR makes use of seven test areas across Europe to provide real-world research context and road-test findings, including areas impacted by green transition consequences. Roundtables in these areas provide active local stakeholder dialogue and a basis for rapid implementation and new project roll-out. A key focus of ISLANDR is to facilitate soil remediation even when the case is economically marginal or negative, by providing a more thorough understanding of low input approaches and a wider value proposition for investment cases and financial planning.

ISLANDR is composed of six interactive work packages (WPs).

WP1 is data-oriented and will involve reaching out to pan-European Member State soil databases in order to capture a relevant picture of soil contamination (including hot-spots) both in urban and rural areas. WP2 is dedicated to the assessment of risks associated with degraded soils. It proposes to further develop advanced Source-Pathway-Receptor models within risk assessment approaches in contaminated soil management to better assist in the identification of Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CEC) that needs to be considered as a priority but also to better integrate large-scale risk assessment and soil health and related soil functionality in risk assessment.

WP3 will address the feasibility of specific sustainable remediation technologies, selected for their efficiency, reliance on biological and/or nature-based processes and economic feasibility. WP4 aims to develop financial models for decontamination and reusing of land that can effectively support investment cases for private and public actors. WP5 aims to develop optimal strategies for the prioritisation of soil remediation in Europe in urban and rural areas and the promotion of sustainable decontamination and reuse.

WP6 supports finalising the decision support framework and soil strategies via feedback to other WPs and by engaging stakeholders to provide their views and ideas for the project. WP6 also aims to ensure the broad adoptability of the project outcomes. WPs 7 and 8 are related to project management, clustering, communication, dissemination, and exploitation activities and run throughout the duration of the project. WP9 is dedicated to the Ethics requirements.

The Technical Advisory Board members come from the following organisations: COMMON FORUM on Contaminated Land in Europe (Austria), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (Japan), Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra & EU Soil Mission Board, Joint Research Cente/EU Soil Observatory, Saxon State Office for Environment, Agriculture and Geology (Germany).

The scientific coordinator of ISLANDR is Kirsti Loukola-Ruskeeniemi and the project manager is Juha Kaija. Timo Tarvainen leads the WP1. Overview of soil pollution in Europe. The following GTK´s units will participate in ISLANDR work: Energy & Construction Solutions (ERR) and Environmental Solutions (YMR).

Project partners:

	Participant organisation name	Type	Country
1	GEOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS (GTK) – COORDINATOR	RES	FI
2	BUREAU DE RECHERCHES GÉOLOGIQUES ET MINIERÈS (BRGM)	RES	FR
3	STICHTING DELTARES (DELTARES)	RES	NL
4	ETHNIKO KENTRO EREVNAS KAI TECHNOLOGIKIS ANAPTYXIS (CERTH)	RES	GR
5	CHALMERS TEKNISKA HOGSKOLA AB (CHALMERS)	UNI	SE
6	UNIVERSIDADE NOVA DE LISBOA (NOVA)	UNI	PT
7	GREENDECISION SRL (GD)	SME	IT
8	INSTYTUT UPRAWY NAWOZENIA I GLEBOZNAWSTWA, PANSTWOWY INSTYTUT BADAWCZY (IUNG)	RES	PL
9	INTEGRATED RESOURCES MANAGEMENT (IRM) COMPANY LIMITED (IRMCo)	SME	MT
10	SUOMEN YMPARISTOKESKUS (SYKE)	RES	FI
11	SANTERRA	SME	BE
12	IRN	SME	XK
13	TEMAS SOLUTIONS GMBH (TEMASOL) (Associate partner)	SME	CH
14	R3 ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY LIMITED (R3) (Associate partner)	SME	UK

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

Contact person: Juha Kaija

Return to projects