Activities

There is an annual AlpSP meeting.

The AlpSP has translated the Voluntary Guidelines for Sustainable Soil Management into German and Slovenian, thus facilitating the dissemination of this important policy document among stakeholders in the subregion. In addition, experts from the AlpSP are leading the preparation of a manual for the sustainable management of mountain soils, to be published in 2023.

Past activities and events:

2024

Participation of Michele Freppaz as expert member to the In-depth review of the topic “Conservation of wetland and peatland soils" dealt with in Article 9 of the Soil Conservation Protocol. Soil Working Group Alpine Convention, Monaco, 13-14 February 2024.

Organization of the session: Caring for mountain soils, the hidden key to climate change adaptation and SDGs: challenges, threats, success stories. May 21 2024. Conveners: Michele Freppaz, Silvia Stanchi, Michele D’Amico, Borut Vrscaj. Centennial Celebration and Congress of the International Union of Soil Sciences, May 19-21, Florence Italy. The session hosted 12 oral presentations and 9 posters.

Organization of the post-conference tour: From Alpine Soils to Rice Paddies: an outlook into the soils and the services they provide. Centennial Celebration and Congress of the International Union of Soil Sciences, May 19-21, Florence Italy. The tour was sold out: 21 participants from Japan, Scotland, Poland, China, Switzerland, Germany.

Invited oral communication by Michele Freppaz: Mountain Soils in the Alps under a changing climate at the Seminar on Renewable energy at the service of the territory and climate impact in mountain areas: local solutions for European sustainable development, organized by the EU-Commission for the Environment, Climate change and Energy, European Committe of the Regions, Saint Vincent 12-13 June 2024

Lecture by Silvia Stanchi on Conservation and management of mountain soils at the International Programme on research and training on sustainable management of mountain areas (IPROMO), organized by the FAO-Mountain Partnership Secretariat and the University of Torino, 2024 Edition, Ormea, 24 June 2024 – 9 July 2024.  

Active involvement in the drafting of the EU INTERREG Alpine Space project Soils: our invisible allies, recently approved and starting in September 2024.

2023

Workshop with AlpSP members, hosted by Kunst und Natur, Nantesbuch (13-14th March 2023): planning next activities & explore future projects opportunities

3-day course on Applied Pedology for practitioners (40 participants) from Aosta Valley & Piemonte regions (Aosta, 29-30 March 2023, field trip 7th June 2023)

Lecture by Emanuele Pintaldi on Mountain forest soils: their contributions to combating mountain threats at the International Programme on research and training on sustainable management of mountain areas (IPROMO), organized by the FAO-Mountain Partnership Secretariat and the University of Torino, 2023 Edition, Ormea, 10 July 2023 – 25 July 2023

Soil Science training for the Italian IESO Team (International Earth Sciences Olympics), 10th July 2023

Keynote lecture by Michele Freppaz: Soil, climate change and sustainable development. Italian Soil Science Society Conference, Palermo, 12-15 September 2023.

Organization of the World Soil Day 2023 in Aosta (Aosta Valley Region, NW Italy), 5 December 2023, by the University of Torino and the Local regional administration. The activities targeted both schools and soil practitioners.

2022

Contribution to the LTAP -Long-Term Action Plan For the implementation of provisions and declarations on soil protection in the specific context of the Alpine region of the Soil Working Group of the Alpine Convention https://www.alpconv.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Organisation/TWB/Soil/Long-term-action-plan_soil-protection.pdf (published June 2022)

Participation in the Open Ended Scientific Commitee of the International Year of Mountains 2022 – A Policy Brief on the sustainable use of mountain soils was issued and is available here https://www.fao.org/mountain-partnership/publications/publication-detail/en/c/1631420/

World Soil Day in Aosta 5/12/22 https://alpinesoils.eu/portfolio/world-soil-day-celebration-in-aosta-valley/

2021

Eurosoil session (September 2021, online) “Understanding and managing mountain soils, and related ecosystem services “

Alpine SOILutions Congress 2021 https://alpinesoils.eu/portfolio/alpine-soilutions-congress/