CL:AIRE was delighted to attend the second annual meeting of the International Soil Reuse Forum (ISRF) in Brussels, Belgium, hosted by Grondbank. The meeting, held on 30 September, included colleagues from BRGM in France, SIKB in the Netherlands, and several guest speakers from Belgium and the European Commission.
The ISRF aims to: foster discussions around mutual challenges, opportunities, and innovations in soil management; share good practices; explore policy developments; encourage joint problem-solving; and establish an authoritative, global voice on soil management issues to enhance recognition and advocacy.
At this year’s meeting, the forum learned about differences in soil reuse and management laws between the three Belgian regions through presentations from guest speakers representing Wallonia, Brussels and Flanders. The forum also heard about the goals of the new EU Soil Monitoring Law and the expected changes that will come with its adoption from an EU Commission representative. As a nice extension from the ReCon Soil project, which concluded in 2023, project partner BRGM presented two case studies on reconstructed soil (“technosoil”) use and application in France. Finally, the group had a lively debate on the different definitions of soil between industries and languages.
Close of business for the meeting included preparing outlines for the next meeting and drafting a potential outline for a second joint communiqué, which the forum hopes to publish in the coming months. The joint communiqué from last year’s meeting is available here: International Soil Reuse Forum.
BRGM will host the next meeting in France!