Information-based Strategies for LAND Remediation

Project Information

ISLANDR

Grant agreement ID: 101112889

DOI

10.3030/101112889

EC signature date 19 May 2023

Start date 1 May 2023

End date 31 July 2026

Funded under

• Food, Bioeconomy Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment

Total cost

€ 5 804 677,75

EU contribution

€ 5 804 677,50

Coordinated by

GEOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS
Finland

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ISLANDR (Information-based Strategies for LAND Remediation)

Reporting period: 2023-05-01 to 2024-10-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The Information-based Strategies for LAND Remediation (ISLANDR) project is cross-disciplinary and multi-actor and aims to promote the delivery of Green Deal objectives, in particular achieving Zero Pollution by reducing soil pollution and enhancing restoration. ISLANDR will provide a series of tools and methods to support: (1) the delineation of soil pollution sources, (2) the assessment of risks, (3) the implementation of sustainable and risk-based land management (SRBLM), (4) the inclusion of wider valuation approach in financial and investment cases, (5) closer integration of land contamination and spatial planning decision-making and (6) key policy relevant findings related to the Soil Strategy, proposed soil health law and other areas of policy where soil is a crucial consideration.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The activities rotated around the 6 activities identified in the project, through consultations,literature reviews and development of new methods and tools. For example, ISLANDR has gathered information about soil contamination data sources with the support from COMMON FORUM and EIONET WG Soil. Seven test areas across Europe (ITAs) have been identified that provide a real-world context for testing the research activities. ISLANDR has investigated environmental, technical, financial, social, legislative, and institutional barriers and examples for solutions/tools for decontaminating and regenerating sites, as well as the reuse of soils. A common ontology was seen necessary to have a coherent terminology. Horizontal policy integration studies started with defining the methodology for the identification and classifying policy instruments regarding the management of contaminated soils as the most relevant (requiring detailed investigation) and additional ones (to be studied superficially. The outcomes of the projects are all under development.

Research teams have met regularly both in Teams and face-to-face. The kick off Meeting was organized in May 2023 in Finland, the 1st Progress Meeting in Sweden in October 2023, the 2nd in Brussels in March 2024, the 3rd in Poland in October 2024, the 4th progress meeting online in May 2025 . A member of the Soil Mission Board, Dr. Pietola, participated in the 2nd Progress Meeting and gave the address from the Soil Mission Board. The Advisory Board participated in the kick-off Meeting and has followed the progress ever since. We have had altogether 16 Management Committee meetings until July 2025. Ethical advisor has been available for ethical advice.

The change of communication, dissemination and exploitation leader caused delays in communication actions in 2024. Nevertheless, dissemination was active in conferences, stakeholder events and through articles. Peer-reviewed journal articles include comparison of historical mining towns in Europe with the Outokumpu ITA.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The project's outcomes:

- The ISLANDR Roadmap is a strategic and modular resource to guide stakeholders through the stages of sustainable and risk-based land management (SRBLM), from site identification to reuse. It can be applied to different contamination sources and land uses across the ISLANDR’s outputs. It focuses on the nexus between low input remediation, soil health and wider values to develop policy and investment cases for the sustainable and risk-based management of challenging sites.

-Risk-based S-P-R conceptual models, Pre-assessment risk screening methodology (Excel-based, evolving toward Python implementation) with main purpose to support early-stage contaminated land assessments. Development of innovative interpolation and anomaly recognition algorithms for Sparse, Scattered, Imprecise and Clustered data has been finalized.

-Operating windows-based input to an online Decision Support Tool (DST) aimed at supporting the selection of remediation options based on a site’s technical and sustainability context.
ISLANDR Sustainable and Risk Based Land Management (SRBLM) concept is shared with key stakeholders (ITAs, NICOLE and COMMON FORUM, SRBLM) for development purposes. Low input remediation technologies and wider considerations of sustainability will be included into the EICLaR screening tool.

-Methodology for large scale risk assessment with two distinct but complementary methodologies developed to enable large-scale risk assessment of land contamination:
1. Evaluation of diffuse pollution: based on existing datasets and experimental data collected in the field, particularly maps of contaminants
2. Assessment of potentially contaminated sites: uses data on anthropogenic contamination sources to guide risk assessment and identify areas with potential contamination

-Circularity assessment methodology of remediation technologies with two main outputs developed:
1. Circularity assessment methodology through the identification of indicators
2. Sustainability assessment of remediation techniques. The sustainability-related data will feed into the DST EICLaR screening too.

- Metadata catalogue aiming to improve accessibility and understanding of datasets related to soil contamination and SRBLM. It is already available for testing on Internet in its initial release and counts 118 entries from across all of Europe.

- Spatial planning strategies developed to connect spatial planning with soil health; including a classification of the spatial planning systems studied.

- Tool to support the selection of relevant Contaminant of Emerging Concern (CEC). ISLANDR has compiled a list of 800 contaminants of emerging concern (CEC) relevant to soil environment, grouped into 50 clusters according to their similar fate and transport properties.

- Innovative Financial Models to Promote Remediation Action to enable remediation action at sites considered economically marginal (Type B and C brownfields). The work was based on extensive literature review. A draft template for developing financial models for brownfield development has been set up.

The ISLANDR Serious Game role play session at Outokumpu stakeholder meeting, Finland.

ISLANDR roundtable session "A Soil Deal for Europe" in the AquaConSoil conference, September 2023.

ISLANDR participants at Lake Sysmäjärvi, Outokumpu, Finland.

ISLANDR delegation in Kosovo ITA hosted by Kosovo Energy Corporation, October 2024.