The first Northern European Regional Meeting of the international 4 per 1000 Initiative
The first Northern European Regional Meeting of the international 4 per 1000 Initiative took place in Helsinki, Finland from 6-8 June 2023. It was mainly and greatly organized by the Baltic Sea Action Group.
The meeting consisted of two conference days with over 50 speakers, followed by field excursions on the third day.
On the first day, the speakers focused on framing the topic and the importance of soil health and shed light on the bottlenecks hindering the improvement of soil in general and in the northern European region. The day ended with intriguing farmer stories and soil art. The farmer stories continued during dinner, as farmers told the guests about the food they had grown for the menu. Continuing through dinner, participants discussed the multiple benefits that soil health can offer, as well as the challenges of scaling soil health, and you could really tell that everyone’s heart was in it.
The second day started with inspiring presentations from Finnish youth climate and nature delegates. Later, the audience heard and participated in 30 presentations in three parallel sessions, focusing on key themes:
healthy soils for climate, biodiversity, and water;
soil carbon monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) as a scientific basis for public and private incentives; and
the regional priority in northern Europe: agricultural organic soils.
Afterward, the main messages from these sessions were concluded in a final panel discussion.
Participants had the opportunity to visit an experimental farm (Qvidja) or the University of Helsinki’s research sites (Viikki) on the third day of the programme which was a rounded conclusion to this very successful conference.
In total, the meeting brought together over 300 researchers, business and NGO representatives, farmers, and policymakers. Participants came from more than 30 countries from different corners of Northern Europe and beyond. The biggest number of participants came from Finland, followed by Sweden, Norway, France, Poland, Denmark, Germany, and Estonia.
