On 24 September, we attended the kick off meeting of the Horizon Europe project PHISHES. The event marked the start of a four-year initiative aimed at safeguarding European soils through advanced simulation tools. PHISHES stands for Physically-Based Integrated Soil Health Simulation Platform which is also the main planned output.
Coordinated by DHI, the project brings together nine expert partners from across Europe, encompassing soil science, hydrology, and policy-making. During the kick-off meeting in Copenhagen, hosted by the coordinator, partners’ presentations and discussions led to a collection of first activities to be addressed, e.g. the selection of scenarios, the combination between modelling activities and case studies.
Data and Action for Soil Health
PHISHES seeks to bridge the gap between soil health data and actions, providing much-needed predictive capability in terms of the consequences of actions on the provision of soil functions and associated ecosystem services, taking into account soil use, soil contamination and various drivers such as climate change.
At the heart of PHISHES is the development of a Digital Platform containing workflows and tools quantifying the effect of management actions on the environment. The tools will be combinations of data processing procedures and further developed modules on top of existing cutting-edge numerical models, such as the distributed hydrological system MIKE SHE and the DAISY agro-ecological model of the soil-plant-atmosphere system.
The gap between science and policy is bridged in practice by a Decision Support System that will display the concrete findings of the PHISHES project and actionable recommendations for policy affecting soil health.
A Key Scientific Question
The core scientific challenge addressed by PHISHES is: “How do soil use and soil contamination influence soil functions and associated ecosystem services, in the presence of major drivers such as climate change, and how can we predict the impacts of mitigation and adaptation measures?”.
By providing quantitative predictive tools the project will enable stakeholders and decision makers to evaluate the effects of possible actions such as changed agricultural practices, land restoration, or pollution mitigation measures, with the goal of preserving soil health and improve soil function impacts on associated ecosystem services. Indeed, the results of the scenario simulations generated by the PHISHES Digital Platform will be translated into policy recommendations aimed at promoting soil health, enhancing ecosystem services, and mitigating the effects of contamination and climate change.
Real-Life Case Studies
To ensure practical application and relevance, PHISHES modelling results are applied and tested by four case studies across Europe, focusing on diverse environmental challenges:
- The Zelivka River Basin in the Czech Republic, analysing soil management’s influence on drinking water quality at catchment scale.
- The Koprzywianka River in Poland, covering water withdrawals / irrigation on agricultural land.
- The Airport in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden, looking at efficiency of mitigation measures of PFAS contamination at sub catchment scale.
- The Rotterdam Urban Area in the Netherlands, evaluating the use of green infrastructure to improve resilience and sustainability of urban environments.
Additionally, a Soil Laboratory in France will examine the fate and transport of PFAS from soil to groundwater under controlled conditions.
By integrating cutting-edge models and real-world case studies, the PHISHES project will provide valuable insights into sustainable soil management. Moreover, with its focus on translating scientific findings into actionable recommendations, PHISHES represents a significant advance in the preservation of soil health and the sustainability of ecosystem services.
Learn More about PHISHES: www.phishes-project.eu/
