The Alpine Soil Partnership (AlpSP) joins soil experts and the users of soil knowledge (authorities, practitioners, NGOs, etc.) to better introduce soil protection into land management practices and to promote Alpine-wide cooperation on soil protection & soil ecosystem services management.
It was established during the EU Alpine Space project Links4Soils, and was founded on a common Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
As a bottom-up network, people and organisations working for sustainable soil management are invited to join the Alpine Soil Partnership by signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) below and completing the Sign-up form:
Here are other language options of the MoU:
In the framework of the EU Alpine Space project Links4Soils, the Alpine Soil Partnership (AlpSP) was established, taking into account the sub-regional-level priorities and natural and cultural conditions of the Alpine region.
The AlpSP is aiming towards federating all the various stakeholders and institutions in the Alpine Region. We aspire for close cooperation with existing network structures such as the CIPRA, the EUSALP AG6, the Alpine Convention, the European Soil Partnership (ESP), and the Global Soil Partnership (GSP).
Caring For Soils – Where Our Roots Grow
The slogan of the EU Alpine Space project Links4Soils “Caring For Soils – Where Our Roots Grow,” was translated to a common framework of the Alpine Soil Partnership, which can be summarized by the following four bullet points:
- Soils are a relevant factor for a functioning ecosystem and perform essential services for us: Link to SES.
The UN adopted 17 Goals that are necessary for Sustainable Development (SDGs). Soils can contribute to at least ten of them (No. 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 15, 17), and the challenge is to expand particularly No. 2, 4, 11, 13, 17. - Soils affect and are affected by climate change. Soils store more carbon than the atmosphere and vegetation together. Climate change affects and modifies the balance of nutrients in soils. Alpine soils are even more sensitive and diverse due to the largely diverse soil-forming factors (relief, climate, parent material, organisms, and time). Climate change in the Alps is also more important than in the lowlands. Soils play an essential role in climate change mitigation as well as climate change adaptation by enhancing the resilience of our environment.
- Sustainable use of soils has been defined by the Revised World Soil Charter (2015) as: “Soil management is sustainable if the supporting, provisioning, regulating, and cultural services provided by soil are maintained or enhanced without significantly impairing (…) biodiversity”. Soils react (slowly) to environmental and climatic changes as well as to land uses and management practices. Soils are currently threatened by soil sealing, soil erosion, and loss of soil organic matter.
Sustainable soil management aims at improving soil characteristics (e.g, soil structure, water infiltration and retention, organic matter content, soil fauna) that can be influenced by management practices in different sectors, such as agriculture, forestry, urban and land planning.
Sustainable soil management should be integrated across all land-use sectors through the implementation of good soil management practices that maintain, balance, or improve SES while preserving each sector’s primary functions, such as food production in agriculture. This means linking soil dynamics with the challenges of land use management to guarantee a win-win situation.