Participatory research on the health of communities in contact with polluted soils

Expected Outcome:

Activities under this topic will help progress towards the objectives and targets of the Mission Soil and should contribute to meeting the relevant targets of the EU Soil Strategy for 2030 and the Zero Pollution Action Plan, as well as to the Sustainable Development Goals^[1].

Project results are expected to contribute to all the following expected outcomes:

• improved citizen awareness on the connection between soil pollution and human health and how to manage, adapt to, and mitigate risks;
• increased public access to FAIR^[2] data and knowledge on soil pollution and the emergence of human diseases and other health outcomes;
• policymakers enforce the implementation of long-term, sustainable solutions that enhance soil health, restore the environment, and protect public health.

Scope:

Across the European Union, an estimated 2.8 million land sites are potentially contaminated. Exposure to soil pollution poses serious health risks and is estimated to contribute to around 500,000 premature deaths worldwide each year^[3]. People can be exposed directly, through skin contact or inhalation of dust from polluted soils, or indirectly, by consuming contaminated food or drinking water.

Despite numerous studies clearly demonstrating the harmful effects of soil pollution on human health^[4], public awareness of the risks associated with contaminated sites remains limited, as does the due diligence of polluting entities, and the response of public authorities.

Community-based participatory research^[5], which directly involves populations living and/or working in polluted or potentially^[6] polluted sites, will help, to identify and map human diseases and health outcomes driven by soil pollution, and increase public awareness of the environmental and health the risks related to soil pollution.

Proposals should:

• implement community-based participatory research activities to engage with populations living or working in close contact with polluted (or potentially polluted^[7]) sites to identify and map human diseases and other health outcomes and their incidence in these areas;
• consider and explore direct (e.g., skin contact with soils) and indirect (e.g., consumption of contaminated food, psychological impact of living near contaminated sites) soil-related drivers of human disease and ill-health as relevant;
• engage private entities with industrial operations in polluted sites and which work with potential pollutants (including substances of concern), involving them as stakeholders in the research to jointly devise mitigation and remediation strategies and demonstrate corporate responsibility;
• propose locally relevant interventions that foster community resilience against soil pollution, encourage polluters due diligence, and deliver recommendations to policymakers at relevant level of governance to regulate decontamination, promote reuse of land when possible, and protect public health.

Proposals should prioritise the conditions with significant unmet medical need and the populations most vulnerable to the detrimental effects of soil pollution. Proposed approaches should incorporate both qualitative and quantitative research and leverage lived experiences data where possible.

This topic requires an interdisciplinary approach involving experts on land and soil contamination, epidemiology and in social-science and humanities (SSH) disciplines in particular sociology and anthropology.

Proposals should include dedicated tasks and appropriate resources for coordination measures and joint activities with other relevant Horizon Europe projects (e.g. the sister projects funded under this topic, the projects resulting from the topic HORIZON-MISS-2027-06-SOIL-CANCER: Living labs to monitor and mitigate carcinogenic substances in and originating from soils: Evaluating their effects on human cancer risks) and initiatives funded under the Mission Soil, including engagement with the relevant cluster activities.

Proposals should demonstrate a route towards open access, longevity, sustainability and interoperability of knowledge and outputs through close collaboration with the European Union Soil Observatory and SoilWise. Concrete efforts should prioritise making data from funded projects FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable). This includes exploring 'FAIR-by-design' workflows for data generation.

[1] In particular SDG 3- Good health and well-being, SDG 13 – Climate action, and SDG 15 – Life on Land

[2] Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable.

[3] Landrigan et al. (2018). The Lancet Commission on pollution and health, The Lancet

Volume 391, Issue 10119, 3–9 February 2018, Pages 462-512.

[4] Soil pollution and health — European Environment Agency

[5] This excludes the sampling of polluted soil by non-experts. The population involved in the research activities should never be exposed to additional risks caused by soil pollution. The participation of the population already exposed to soil pollution is meant through interviews/questionnaires/focus groups or other social science methodologies.

[6] Potentially polluted sites refer to areas of land where there is a high probability or it is strongly believed that the soil is contaminated with harmful substances, but it has not yet been fully confirmed or assessed.

[7] If a proposal decides to work on potentially polluted sites, or sites at risk of pollution or sites which communities suspect to be polluted, appropriate tests that demonstrate that sites are polluted should be done by experts in soil contamination.