Proposed activities should:

• Take stock of past, present and planned soil-health related science-policy mechanisms and activities across different policy areas (covering at least agriculture and forestry, environment including biodiversity, climate, and spatial planning) and governance levels, analyse their purposes and the tools employed, and assess performance (at least in terms of effectiveness, efficiency and long-term sustainability). This should include case studies of real-life science-policy interactions around specific challenges of monitoring and improving soil health, and identification of criteria for – and likely conditions of – success or failure of such interactions.
• Facilitate better connections among existing mechanisms and structures for science-policy dialogue on soil health across sectors and governance levels, so that overlaps and gaps in substantive and territorial coverage are reduced, and overall effectiveness is increased.
• Identify and evaluate options for setting up and operating a functioning science-policy interface for soil health across the EU and its Member States and interested Horizon Europe Associated Countries. Options should include the medium-term establishment of a dedicated science service as a central entry point for support requests from EU and national administrations.
• Develop one or more tools for managing (collecting, organising, synthesising and presenting) existing and emerging soil-health knowledge, in particular (but not exclusively) from EU-funded R&I projects, with a view to integrating the tool(s) into a future EU-wide science-policy interface.
• Taking into account different biogeographic, administrative and cultural contexts and building on relevant existing structures, support the creation or further development and improved operation of national soil-health hubs in all Member States and interested Associated Countries, and coordinate the creation of a functioning Europe-wide network. The hubs should involve all relevant parts of public administrations as well as other stakeholders also from outside the R&I sector (including private sector and philanthropy). They should liaise with relevant national, regional and EU authorities, including National Contact Points for Horizon Europe, and address the full range of land uses impacting on soil health. Among other functions, the hubs and their network should be able to function as, or in close cooperation with, science-policy interfaces and provide regular opportunities for the further development of research agendas in line with evolving policy needs at national and EU level.