Environmental Symposia

Soil At Risk: Program and links to recordings

Soil at risk -ympäristösymposium 30.6.2021

The Soil at Risk symposium on 30.6.2021 in Helsinki brought together a wide variety of research and practical information on protecting agricultural soil. The symposium invited researchers, farmers, businesses and decision-makers to answer vital questions together: How do we safeguard the soil for future generations? What kind of cultivation practices for soil regeneration are needed? 

Here, you can find the symposium program and links to the recordings from the symposium day.

Symposium program

Welcoming words
Soil at risk: reasons and consequences.
Ronald Vargas, Secretary of the Global Soil Partnership,  FAO
Session I: Soil is full of life and offers us many benefits – how to protect it?
Keynote: Harnessing root-microbe interactions for climate-friendly soils.
Franciska de Vries, Professor of Earth Surface Science, University of Amsterdam
Finland’s perspective: Carbon Action – regenerative agriculture enhancing soil health. Saara Kankaanrinta, chair of BSAG and Carbon Action
Interview: Franciska de Vries and Saara Kankaanrinta facilitated by symposium host
Session II: Plant-soil interactions – biodiversity as an aim and a tool
Keynote: The impact of global change on soil functions and microbial diversity.
Matthias Rillig, Professor of Plant Ecology, Freie Universität Berlin
Finland’s perspective: TWINWIN – Using biodiversity as a tool to enhance carbon sequestration in agriculture.
Jussi Heinonsalo,
University Researcher, University of Helsinki &
Anna-Liisa Laine, Professor of Ecology, University of ZurichInterview: Matthias Rillig and Anna-Liisa Laine/Jussi Heinonsalo  facilitated by symposium host
Session III: Soil mitigating climate change. Experimenting and verifying soil carbon sequestration
Keynote: Experimenting and verifying soil carbon sequestration.
Dr. Jean-Francois Soussana, INRAE’s vice-president of international research policy
Finland’s perspective: Verification system for the carbon sequestration developed in Carbon Action
Jari Liski, Research Professor and Head of Climate System Research, Finnish Meteorological Institute
Interview:  Jean-Francois Soussana and Jari Liski, facilitated by symposium host
Panel Discussion: Solutions for soil – joint action for scaling the impact
The panel discussion focuses on how to foster co-operation between different actors and how to scale actions in order to receive impact. Panelists: Juuso Joona, farmer and educator 
Juha Nousiainen, Senior Vice President, Carbon-neutral Milk Chain, Valio
Jari Liski, Research Professor and Head of Climate System Research, Finnish Meteorological Institute
Ville Niinistö, Member of the European Parliament, Greens/EFA groups coordinator.
Kati Ihamäki, Vice President, Corporate Responsibility, OP Financial Group.

Chairs: Minttu Jaakkola, Maj & Tor Nessling Foundation & Laura Höijer, Baltic Sea Action Group

For the panel discussion, we had beforehand a farmer dialogue with Timeout-Foundation as well as separate group discussions on themes including:

  • Business: sustainable soil-friendly finance and companies (Kati Ihamäki, Minna Kaljonen, Juha Nousiainen, Jari Liski, Michaela Ramm-Schmidt)
  • Steering: protecting the soil with decision making and steering instruments (Jyrki Niemi, Markku Ollikainen, Jaana Husu-Kallio, Ville Niinistö, Kaj Granholm)
  • Farming: farming healthy soils (Tuomas Mattila, Juuso Joona, Liisa Pietola, Harri Mäkivuokko, Mats Nylund, Eliisa Malin)
The messages from these discussions was delivered to the panel discussion through videos and pictures.
Symposium closing words