How to enhance the role of science in European Union policy making and implementation: The case of agricultural impacts on drinking water quality

Throughout the European Union (EU), high concentrations of nitrates and pesticides are among the major polluting components of drinking water and have potential long-term impacts on the environment and human health. Many research projects co-funded by the European Commission have been carried out, but the results often do not influence policy making and implementation to the extent that is duly justified. This paper assesses several issues and barriers that weaken the role of science in EU policy making and EU policy implementation in the case of agricultural impacts on drinking water quality. It then proposes improvements and solutions to strengthen the role of science in this process. The analysis is conceptual but supported empirically by a desk study, a workshop, and complementary individual interviews, mostly with representatives of organizations working at the EU level. The results indicate that perceived barriers are mostly observed on the national or regional level and are connected with a lack of political will, scarce instruction on the legislation implementation process, and a lack of funding opportunities for science to be included in policy making and further EU policy implementation. In response to that, we suggest translating scientific knowledge on technological, practical or environmental changes and using dissemination techniques for specific audiences and in local languages. Further, the relationship between data, information and decision making needs to change by implementing monitoring in real-time, which will allow for the quick adaptation of strategies. In addition, we suggest project clustering (science, policy, stakeholders, and citizens) to make science and research more connected to current policy challenges and stakeholder needs along with citizen involvement with an aim of establishing sustainable long-term relationships and communication flows.</p

Soil and land use research in Europe: lessons learned from INSPIRATION bottom-up strategic research agenda setting

We introduce the INSPIRATION bottom-up approach for the development of a strategic research agenda for spatial planning, land use and soil-sediment-water-system management in Europe. Research and innovation needs were identified by more than 500 European funders, endusers, scientists, policy makers, public administrators and consultants. We report both on the concept and on the implementation of the bottom-up approach, provide a critique of the process and draw key lessons for the development of research agendas in the future. Based on identified strengths and weaknesses we identified as key opportunities and threats 1) a high ranking and attentiveness for the research topics on the political agenda, in press and media or in public awareness, 2) availability of funding for research, 3) the resources available for creating the agenda itself, 4) the role of the sponsor of the agenda development, and 5) the continuity of stakeholder engagement as bases for identification of windows of opportunity, creating ownership for the agenda and facilitating its implementation. Our derived key recommendations are 1) a clear definition of the area for which the agenda is to be developed and for the targeted user, 2) a conceptual model to structure the agenda, 3) making clear the expected roles, tasks, input formats regarding the involvement and communication with the stakeholders and project partners, 4) a sufficient number of iterations and checks of the agenda with stakeholders to insure completeness, relevance and creation of co-ownership for the agenda, and 5) from the beginning prepare the infrastructure for the network to implement the agenda

The COVID-19 pandemic and global environmental change: Emerging research needs.

The outbreak of COVID-19 raised numerous questions on the interactions between the occurrence of new infections, the environment, climate and health. The European Union requested the H2020 HERA project which aims at setting priorities in research on environment, climate and health, to identify relevant research needs regarding Covid-19. The emergence and spread of SARS-CoV-2 appears to be related to urbanization, habitat destruction, live animal trade, intensive livestock farming and global travel. The contribution of climate and air pollution requires additional studies. Importantly, the severity of COVID-19 depends on the interactions between the viral infection, ageing and chronic diseases such as metabolic, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and obesity which are themselves influenced by environmental stressors. The mechanisms of these interactions deserve additional scrutiny. Both the pandemic and the social response to the disease have elicited an array of behavioural and societal changes that may remain long after the pandemic and that may have long term health effects including on mental health. Recovery plans are currently being discussed or implemented and the environmental and health impacts of those plans are not clearly foreseen. Clearly, COVID-19 will have a long-lasting impact on the environmental health field and will open new research perspectives and policy needs

Field scale behaviour of cadmium in soil

Although total heavy metal contents of soil are often used to express the degree of contamination, they are of little value to judge environmental effects. The main objective of this thesis was to develop and test methodologies with which environmental risks of cadmium pollution of field soils can be evaluated. A method to determine the mobile and bioavailable fraction of the total Cd content may be soil extraction with 0.01 M CaCl 2 . Chemical processes that control the cadmium activity in such an extract were quantified. This is relevant information when Cd contents in CaCl 2 -extracts need interpretation in terms of bioavailability and leachability.Cadmium behaviour at the field scale was studied using soil samples taken from an arable field in the Dutch Kempen region. Spatial variability of total Cd contents, CaCl 2 -extractable Cd contents, soil-pH, and organic matter content was distinct and different for all parameters. Spatial variability of soil-pH and organic matter content explained a major proportion of the variability of Cd contents.Due to spatial variability, a high sampling density was needed for reliable estimation of pollution boundaries. When polluted soil needs remedial action, reduction of the research effort by minimizing the sampling density may well lead to an overall increase in sanitation costs because the area where concentrations exceed a critical threshold level becomes larger.The long-term effect of soil heterogeneity on cadmium behaviour in soil was evaluated using a stochastic simulation model. Predicted uptake of Cd by barley and leaching of Cd to groundwater was much higher in a heterogeneous field as compared to an equivalent homogeneous field. Variability of soil hydraulic properties as well as soil chemical parameters caused these differences. This demonstrated the importance of soil heterogeneity for environmental impact assessment of soil contamination