To ensure change happens in agriculture, we need to team up with other organisations and programmes.
That's why TERRASAFE has joined the AgroTech Hub Cluster Group - to connect with like-minded #HorizonEU projects.
Come to AgroTech's first webinar: www.f6s.com/agrotech-hub...
#soilscience
🎴 Depopulation as a driver of #desertification with the loss of these people, we also lose knowledge of how to sustain vibrant agricultural landscapes.
Read these policy recommendations by @desertificationeu.bsky.social 👇
So today, on International Women’s Day, we celebrate their contribution to creating context-specific innovative solutions to climate change-induced desertification.
You can find about all these great researchers and scientists, and what they do for TERRASAFE, here: terrasafe.eu/who-we-are/
This figure alone shows the central role that land rights for women could play in tackling desertification.
TERRASAFE is a truly gender representative programme, with women leading and working across the academic and implementation teams.
According to a 2024 report by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, women produce up to 80% of the food in developing countries, but own less than 20% of the land globally. This affects their ability to prepare for droughts as well as apply innovations to combat desertification.
Our innovation testing is underway in the Kebili (Tunisia) pilot area with farmers.
In Tunisia we are implementing three innovations: a wood-based gel product that stores water (Agrobiogel), an artificial soil product (CETIM) and a compost production system from Isotech.
#desertification
Follow us or sign up to our newsletter @ terrasafe.eu to learn how impactful they are.
#desertification #horizoneu
People involved in this project believe it will enhance education, promote environmental awareness and create a sense of togetherness.
TERRASAFE is dedicated to finding real, cost-effective and sustainable solutions to desertification through a variety of innovations.
We selected Zero Kilometre because it builds on agricultural resources, existing school facilities, and local interest in sustainable food practices. It involves schools, municipal administrations, families, local farmers & food producers, & associations promoting sustainability & education.
Amenities that bring people together are critical. So the second project that we are testing in Italy is the Zero Kilometre school canteen.
In Italy, TERRASAFE chose to focus on the role of community among the factors driving desertification in Italy. How could we encourage more cohesive and thriving rural areas, resisting trends towards land abandonment and population decline?
The role of rural community in soil health and food systems is as important as finding innovative technical solutions. Why? Because thriving communities take care of the land as well as proving for resilient food systems. In some cases, it is the most important factor in desertification.
One of our pilot areas is Italy, where physical pressures of desertification have been exacerbated by a decline in populations and land abandonment. We have chosen therefore to focus on community.
Read more here buff.ly/00jqMgM
What does desertification feel like to those coping with it? Spanish farmers José and Juan work with TERRASAFE researchers to implement innovations to combat desertification, and here they talk about what's happening to the landscape as desertification accelerates.
#desertification #climatechange
Carob is the new future-food - nutritious, tasty and, because it can survive on just 250 millimetres of rainfall per year, a crop than can be grown in dryland areas.
Head over to our blog to read all about this new superfood 🍪 terrasafe.eu/2026/01/30/c...
#desertification #superfoods #farming
The floods in Valencia, Spain in 2024 showed that drought and floods come together as #climatechange impacts. In Murcia, Spain, José Méndez has developed a tool to create dips in the earth that can help prevent run-off.
#desertification #EUHorizon
José and Juan are two of the farmers working with TERRASAFE researchers on strategies to combat desertification. In this video, they talk about why it's so important to work with others to learn, and what saving the soil means to them and future generations.
#desertification #soilscience
Delivering meaningful change to combat soil degradation requires a transdisciplinary approach - working across research disciplines and through non-academic ideas and people.
This briefing note beings together lessons from recent EU-funded projects.
buff.ly/st0hHTv
Our latest blog, written by placement student Andrew Arkle, looks at three initiatives to reverse dertification - the Great Green Wall (Africa), the Loess Plateau (China), and Ningxia Hui (China).
buff.ly/9IpAI7y
#soilscience #innovation #horizoneurope
Call for abstracts! Deadline 15th Jan - ‘Innovations to assess, combat and prevent land degradation and desertification’
We are convening a session at the EGU26 Assembly in Vienna, 3-8 May 2026, and we'd love to receive proposals for contributions.
See more details on LinkedIn: buff.ly/z72pA9g
We’re proud to tell you about ISOTECH’s Circular Compost Scheme in Cyrpus, whose symbiotic green waste management system turns garden and pruning waste into high-quality compost.
Local farmers are co-owners, they bring in green waste and take back compost for free.
#TERRASAFE #HorizonEU
Happy holidays and a wonderful New Year to everyone!
It locks carbon into the soil, reducing CO₂ emissions and strengthening climate resilience.
Ecochar is being tested in Cyprus, Romania, and Spain.
#TERRASAFE #Ecochar #Biochar #SoilRestoration #Desertification #HorizonEU #ClimateAction
Imflorestal’s Ecochar is a biochar-compost mix developed by Imflorestal to restore degraded soils, reducing the need for water and fertilisers.
This soil enhancer boosts root growth, improves water retention, and helps cut fertiliser use by up to 40%.
Our Director, @proflinds.bsky.social, had a great week representing @desertificationeu.bsky.social at a UNCCD CRIC23 joint side event.
Key discussions on #landtenure, #gender, #drought, #finance + Rio synergies in combating land degradation.
YESI at the heart of global environmental policy! 🌍🌱
Read our latest bumper newsletter to find out more about our progress and community engagement on TERRASAFE.
terrasafe.eu/news/newslet...
Retentis is the gel developed by Agrobiogel, one of the innovations being tested in the TERRASAFE project.
In the TERRASAFE project, Retentis is being tested in Cyprus, Romania, Spain, and Tunisia, places where water scarcity and land degradation are real challenges.
As Member States begin the process of transposing the directive into national law, three Horizon Europe projects—TRAILS4SOIL, EUROSION, and @desertificationeu.bsky.social —have started generating the tools, data, and governance models that can support implementation.
Isotech, one of the TERRASAFE project’s innovation partners, has carried out its first visit to the Tunisian pilot site.
Head to the link to read the full blog:
terrasafe.eu/2025/11/06/f...
🌾 In Italy, desertification isn’t just about dry soil, it’s about empty villages.
As people leave for the cities, rural life fades and the land suffers.
To change this, TERRASAFE is testing two social innovations that reinvigorate rural communities:
