Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) account for 80% of the disease burden as well as for the majority of premature deaths in the EU; diminishing the citizens’ quality of life, life expectancy and increasing the financial burden (from those affected to the health system). During the last 3 decade environmental stressors have been addressed through numerous studies, which have raised concerns about the detrimental effects of the environment on human health. Most evaluated environmental stressors are air temperature, particulate and gaseous air pollutants, urban noise, food pollutants and radiation. By end of 2022, air pollution was reported to be responsible of an excess mortality of 311.000 people per year in the UE-27 , driving not only premature deaths but also an increased risk of vascular diseases such as ischemic heart disease, stroke, and other non-communicable non-vascular diseases like chronic respiratory diseases or depression. Some newly considered stressors such as electromagnetic field, and light exposure are also susceptible to affect human health (e.g ocular and dermatological NCD diseases). ENACT aims at building a pathway to generate clinical, technological and economic short & long-term impact targeting local and regional stakeholders and create impact by: Developing a state-of-the-art environmental risk score and analyser driven framework and platform to predict, monitor and prevent the exposomic risk of acute and chronic health conditions of chronic vascular and non-vascular NCDs. This new exposomic risk score and analyser will support (a) patients, (b) health professionals/hospitals, and (c) policy makers; aiming at reducing the human and financial burden of NCD, considering potential individual vulnerability factors, and reinforcing both a clinical and a policy implementation that enables prevention and disease management for higher quality of life.

AGROSUS will identify appropriate tools and agroecological strategies (AS) to prevent and manage the occurrence of weeds in relevant crops, in conventional, organic and mixed farming, at the eleven biogeographic regions of the European Union and associated countries (Continental–Mediterranean–Atlantic–Macaronesian–Pannonian–Anatolian–Black-Sea–Boreal–Alpine–Steppic–Artic), while reducing the reliance of synthetic herbicides to the environment and increasing biodiversity of agroecosystems. The consortium integrates a multi-actor approach for farmers’ decision making and for including the different perspectives from stakeholders to decision-makers that regulate and administer policies. In summary, AGROSUS will rely on i) expanded knowledge on problematic weeds on European agriculture, current weeding techniques, and problems encountered by farmers and advisors (around 500 farmers and advisors will be contacted for surveys, workshops and discussion groups), ii) advanced detection tools iii) establishment of cultural, mechanical, physical, biological, and biotechnological AS in 68 short-term experimental units sprayed all over Europe, iv) actions carried out with stakeholders and policy makers to promote the most appropriate initiatives at the field, administration and regulatory levels, and v) technology transfer and training of stakeholders for prevention and management of weeds. The tools and strategies designed will be developed, in collaboration with stakeholders, for the most problematic weeds of the different regions. These strategies will be implemented in the most economically relevant crops at the 11 biogeographic regions, and in conventional, organic and mixed farming systems. As well, the environmental impact, and economic and social costs and benefits of combined AS for weed control will be assessed in the 68 short-term fields and in 15 medium to long-term already in course agroecological fields, both in comparison with classical chemical weed management.

SOILRES's mission is to improve soil health and crop resilience in response to the declining health of soil ecosystems, largely caused by the overuse of agrochemicals and the impacts of climate change. This will be achieved by promoting sustainable agricultural practices that prioritise biodiversity and the interactions between soil, plants and microorganisms. To achieve these goals, SOILRES will adopt a comprehensive strategy that includes active engagement with stakeholders, the development of agroecological methods, and the implementation of digital tools for effective soil health management. SOILRES will undertake a number of key activities, including the establishment of collaborative co-creation sessions, the development of microbial bioinoculants and biostimulants, and the formulation of best practices tailored to each use case. Field trials will be conducted in six diverse use cases, targeting key agro-climatic regions in Europe (Atlantic (DK), Boreal (FI), Continental (FR), Pannonian (HU) and Mediterranean (IT, PT)), with the objective of validating and refining these interventions. By assessing agronomic, environmental and cost effectiveness, we will identify challenges and opportunities and design optimal strategies for scaling and replicating sustainable practices. SOILRES is aligned with the Missions Programme, which is focused on promoting agricultural sustainability and resilience. It is expected that these outcomes will result in a reduction in the dependence on chemical inputs and an increase in crop productivity. Furthermore, there will be a broader adoption of practices that support biodiversity among farmers. Ultimately, SOILRES aims to strengthen long-term food security and environmental sustainability in Europe by advocating for integrated soil and crop management strategies.

The overall objective of AF4EU is to promote the European AF through the development of a multi-actor interactive and innovation-driven expanded agroforestry network. This will be based on the sharing of successful practical experiences and existing research knowledge (applied to different and new territories, climates and agricultural sectors) connected through ICT-Tools, with a special focus on the development and implementation of new cost-effective practices, business models and AF-extension services considering the whole food chain and therefore including consumers. All AF4EU partners have associated networks of AF farmers, policy makers and advisors thanks to their leadership of the European Agroforestry Association National Network and others are large farmers association itself (e.g. EFI) that will be an essential part of the 11 Regional Agroforestry Innovation Networks including relevant actors and specially operational groups. The Andalucian ministry of agriculture as policy maker is also part of the consortium. A set of 33 successful AF farm business models will be analysed across Europe from a sustainability perspective (economic, environmental and social). The project builds up on previous H2020 projects and aims at developing an AF knowledge platform that integrates a end-user (i) searchable knowledge reservoir namely Knowledge cloud, (ii) an alive-handbook, (iii) an agroforestry innovation business decision support tool (AFi-Bus DSS) including a business and a business environment analysis targeting AF policy in Europe and a Multilingual Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) with training modules targeting farmers and advisors. AF4EU will definitively contribute to the implementation and uptake across Europe thanks to the supply of cost-effective business models techniques and a successful communication, dissemination and exploitation planning reaching a large audience in Europe.

Root2Res will deliver a package of solutions to enhance the resilience of rotational cropping system by considering relevant root traits with respect to the impact of climate change. Innovations will include phenotyping, genetic and modelling tools that will help breeders evaluate, in field and controlled conditions, novel and existing genotypes of a range of crops (Cereals, Potatoes, Legumes) as root ideotypes for different soil and climatic environments across Europe. Root2Res will also investigate the potential role of emerging crops (Sweet potato, Lentil) to enhance resilience to environmental change, by assessing their genotypic and phenotypic variation. The environments targeted include those predicted to suffer from the largest impact of climate change on yield in Europe. Resilience to stress will focus on greater variation in water availability (both drought and waterlogging) and interactions with other stresses (temperature, reduced nutrient availability). We will also consider the impact of novel understanding of the plasticity of traits to stress. Traits to be assessed will focus on exploration, exploitation and rhizosphere microbiome related traits integrated in an extended phenotype. The impacts of the more resilient ideotypes designed in Root2Res on the delivery of climate change mitigation outcomes (soil carbon sequestration, nutrient utilisation and greenhouse gas emission) will be assessed in field. Root2Res will integrate a strong interaction with stakeholders all through the project, particularly breeders and farmers. The ambition of Root2Res is to deliver crops adapted to changing environments and able to mitigate climate change, by utilising existing genetic diversity for breeding programs in a range of crop species essential to cropping systems and then widening understanding to crops suitable for resilient future systems. This ambition will be supported by the joined commitment of a multidisciplinary partnerships across Europe and beyond.