EUR 21576 EN/2The mission of the Institute for Environment and Sustainability is to provide scien... more EUR 21576 EN/2The mission of the Institute for Environment and Sustainability is to provide scientific-technical support to the European Union’s Policies for the protection and sustainable development of the European and global environment. European Commission
Journal of Environmental Engineering and Landscape Management, 2016
Key priorities in biochar research for future guidance of sustainable policy development have bee... more Key priorities in biochar research for future guidance of sustainable policy development have been identified by expert assessment within the COST Action TD1107. The current level of scientific understanding (LOSU) regarding the consequences of biochar application to soil were explored. Five broad thematic areas of biochar research were addressed: soil biodiversity and ecotoxicology, soil organic matter and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, soil physical properties, nutrient cycles and crop production, and soil remediation. The highest future research priorities regarding biochar’s effects in soils were: functional redundancy within soil microbial communities, bioavailability of biochar’s contaminants to soil biota, soil organic matter stability, GHG emissions, soil formation, soil hydrology, nutrient cycling due to microbial priming as well as altered rhizosphere ecology, and soil ph buffering capacity. Methodological and other constraints to achieve the required LOSU are discussed a...
The European Commission requested the EFSA Panel on Plant Health to prepare and deliver risk asse... more The European Commission requested the EFSA Panel on Plant Health to prepare and deliver risk assessments for commodities listed in the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2019 as 'High-risk plants, plant products and other objects'. This Scientific Opinion covers plant health risks posed by potted plants (2-4 years old) of specified Lonicera species produced in nurseries and that are imported from Turkey, taking into account the available scientific information, including the technical information provided by the NPPO of Turkey. The relevance of any pest for this Opinion was based on evidence following defined criteria listed in Section 4.1. Three species, the EU-quarantine pests Lopholeucaspis japonica and Meloidogyne chitwoodi and the protected zone quarantine pest Bemisia tabaci, fulfilled these criteria and were selected for further evaluation. For these pests, the risk mitigation measures proposed in the technical dossier from Turkey were evaluated taking into account the possible limiting factors. For these pests, an expert judgement is given on the likelihood of pest freedom taking into consideration the risk mitigation measures acting on the pest, including uncertainties associated with the assessment. The estimated degree of pest freedom varies among the pests evaluated, with B. tabaci on evergreen species of Lonicera spp. being the pest most frequently expected on the imported plants. The Expert Knowledge Elicitation indicated, with 95% certainty, that between 9,293 and 10,000 plants per 10,000 would be free of B. tabaci.
Soil is a limited, non-renewable natural resource, on which is based the 95the naturally fertile ... more Soil is a limited, non-renewable natural resource, on which is based the 95the naturally fertile soils, suitable for a sustainable agriculture production, represent only a limited portion (13-18%) of the total land area of the Earth. On these areas are concentrated the majority of human presence and activities, leading to increasing pressures and degradation processes on soil. Land take and soil sealing, associated to urban expansion, is one of the most detrimental and irreversible degradation process, heavily affecting the food security at regional, national and global level. The current estimates of worldwide urban areas, with 1 km resolution, are ranging between 300,000 and 650,000 km. In this research we present an estimate of urban area growth, between 2000 and 2010, of 160,000 km.
Soil is a limited, non renewable and multifunctional resource that provides a range of ecosystem ... more Soil is a limited, non renewable and multifunctional resource that provides a range of ecosystem goods and services. The range of services provided by soils is much broader than the support to biomass production or the physical support to human activities. Current and future demand of land for delivery of goods and services, for example food, biofuels and fibres, expansion of urban areas, is greater than the amount of soil surface available. In addition some of these processes, such as the land taken for the construction of residential, industrial or commercial districts, are increasingly competing with agricultural areas for production of food but also with land areas for nature conservation. The land take and the soil sealing processes have a deep impact on the capability of soil to deliver ecosystem services. In this paper we are describing the impact of land take on soil ecosystem service delivery in EmiliaRomagna. The research has been based on the comparison of land use at dif...
EUR 21576 EN/2The mission of the Institute for Environment and Sustainability is to provide scien... more EUR 21576 EN/2The mission of the Institute for Environment and Sustainability is to provide scientific-technical support to the European Union’s Policies for the protection and sustainable development of the European and global environment. European Commission
Journal of Environmental Engineering and Landscape Management, 2016
Key priorities in biochar research for future guidance of sustainable policy development have bee... more Key priorities in biochar research for future guidance of sustainable policy development have been identified by expert assessment within the COST Action TD1107. The current level of scientific understanding (LOSU) regarding the consequences of biochar application to soil were explored. Five broad thematic areas of biochar research were addressed: soil biodiversity and ecotoxicology, soil organic matter and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, soil physical properties, nutrient cycles and crop production, and soil remediation. The highest future research priorities regarding biochar’s effects in soils were: functional redundancy within soil microbial communities, bioavailability of biochar’s contaminants to soil biota, soil organic matter stability, GHG emissions, soil formation, soil hydrology, nutrient cycling due to microbial priming as well as altered rhizosphere ecology, and soil ph buffering capacity. Methodological and other constraints to achieve the required LOSU are discussed a...
The European Commission requested the EFSA Panel on Plant Health to prepare and deliver risk asse... more The European Commission requested the EFSA Panel on Plant Health to prepare and deliver risk assessments for commodities listed in the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2019 as 'High-risk plants, plant products and other objects'. This Scientific Opinion covers plant health risks posed by potted plants (2-4 years old) of specified Lonicera species produced in nurseries and that are imported from Turkey, taking into account the available scientific information, including the technical information provided by the NPPO of Turkey. The relevance of any pest for this Opinion was based on evidence following defined criteria listed in Section 4.1. Three species, the EU-quarantine pests Lopholeucaspis japonica and Meloidogyne chitwoodi and the protected zone quarantine pest Bemisia tabaci, fulfilled these criteria and were selected for further evaluation. For these pests, the risk mitigation measures proposed in the technical dossier from Turkey were evaluated taking into account the possible limiting factors. For these pests, an expert judgement is given on the likelihood of pest freedom taking into consideration the risk mitigation measures acting on the pest, including uncertainties associated with the assessment. The estimated degree of pest freedom varies among the pests evaluated, with B. tabaci on evergreen species of Lonicera spp. being the pest most frequently expected on the imported plants. The Expert Knowledge Elicitation indicated, with 95% certainty, that between 9,293 and 10,000 plants per 10,000 would be free of B. tabaci.
Soil is a limited, non-renewable natural resource, on which is based the 95the naturally fertile ... more Soil is a limited, non-renewable natural resource, on which is based the 95the naturally fertile soils, suitable for a sustainable agriculture production, represent only a limited portion (13-18%) of the total land area of the Earth. On these areas are concentrated the majority of human presence and activities, leading to increasing pressures and degradation processes on soil. Land take and soil sealing, associated to urban expansion, is one of the most detrimental and irreversible degradation process, heavily affecting the food security at regional, national and global level. The current estimates of worldwide urban areas, with 1 km resolution, are ranging between 300,000 and 650,000 km. In this research we present an estimate of urban area growth, between 2000 and 2010, of 160,000 km.
Soil is a limited, non renewable and multifunctional resource that provides a range of ecosystem ... more Soil is a limited, non renewable and multifunctional resource that provides a range of ecosystem goods and services. The range of services provided by soils is much broader than the support to biomass production or the physical support to human activities. Current and future demand of land for delivery of goods and services, for example food, biofuels and fibres, expansion of urban areas, is greater than the amount of soil surface available. In addition some of these processes, such as the land taken for the construction of residential, industrial or commercial districts, are increasingly competing with agricultural areas for production of food but also with land areas for nature conservation. The land take and the soil sealing processes have a deep impact on the capability of soil to deliver ecosystem services. In this paper we are describing the impact of land take on soil ecosystem service delivery in EmiliaRomagna. The research has been based on the comparison of land use at dif...
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