The Basque Government environmental management agency, Ihobe, hosted the annual meeting of the European SOILveR platform.

Representatives from the different European environmental agencies gathered at the meeting and shored up their common commitment to soil protection. Set up in 2018, the SOILveR platform is currently made up of environmental agencies of France, Walloon Region, the Netherlands, Sweden and the Basque Country; their goal is twofold: on the one hand, to create knowledge around a common research agenda and, on the other hand, to share knowledge and the use and sustainable management of soil and the territory.

Since it joined SOILveR in June 2024, Ihobe has actively worked on coordinating projects of common interest, as well as on disseminating the applicable expertise for decision making as regards soil management.

Esther Goidts and Marta Popova from the Walloon Region, Margot de Cleen and Ingrid van Reijsen from the Netherlands, Yvonne Ohlson from Sweden, Cecile Grand from France, and Zuriñe Maestre and Ana Alzola from Ihobe participated in the annual meeting, hosted in the Basque Country at the Ihobe offices. Alexander Boto, the Ihobe General Manager, welcomed the group and stressed the Basque Government's interest in being actively involved in the initiative.

Ihobe taking part in SOILveR facilitates its involvements in international collaborative ecoinnovative projects and strengthens the Basque Soil Protection Strategy 2030

The meeting focused on designing the platform's 2025 Action Plan, to identify areas of common interest and mechanisms to collaborate beyond co-funding projects. Apart from continuing with a series of webinars to include soil health in the decision-making processes at different levels and to continue participating in the EXPOSED! (human exposure to pollutants in the proximity of mining areas) project, the meeting decided that inroads should be made into areas such as the impact on microplastics, the per- and polyfloroalkyl compounds (PFAS), and incorporating the value of the ecosystems into spatial planning.

The Basque Country being the venue for the meeting stresses Ihobe's commitment to coordinated work along with other stakeholders involved in managing and protecting soil in the territory. Ihobe taking part in SOILveR facilitates its involvements in international collaborative ecoinnovative projects and strengthens the Basque Soil Protection Strategy 2030.

About SOILveR

Since it was founded in 2018, the self-financed European platform has added different stakeholders to its management committee that, at present, comprises ADEME – Green Transition Agency (France), SPAQUE – Agency for the Management of Contaminated (Walloon Region, Belgium), SPW – Walloon Service Public (Walloon Region, Belgium), Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management (Netherlands), Swedish Geotechnical Institute (Sweden) and, since June 2024, Ihobe, the Basque Government's Environmental Management Agency.

SOILveR deploys different actions including the launch of joint calls to finance projects of common interest, the leadership of working groups with experts, collaborating with other stakeholders, platforms and networks with shared goals, along with generation spaces for internal reflection.