Degraded soil and underutilized biomass can contribute to healthier ecosystems and stronger rural economies. This is stated by the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) in a publication dated June 16, released around the International Day against Desertification and Drought. According to the consortium, various European-funded projects demonstrate how biobased solutions can combine land restoration with rural economic development.
This year, attention focused on grazing and pasture areas. These cover more than half of the Earth's land surface and provide food, water regulation, and carbon storage, while supporting the livelihoods of approximately two billion people. CBE JU points out that up to half of these areas worldwide have been degraded or are at risk, with consequences for biodiversity, food security, and rural livability.
Residual streams and marginal land as raw materials
One of the projects mentioned, Rural BioReFarmeries, focuses on small-scale and decentralized biorefining, enabling farmers to process locally available biomass into marketable products. According to project coordinator James Gaffey, the chosen approach to grassland valorization extracts more from every hectare, yielding not only animal feed but also protein concentrates, high-value ingredients, bioenergy, and biofertilizers. This creates additional sources of income for farmers, while reducing pressure on land for the cultivation of protein crops.
The FIRST2RUN project centered on the cardoon, an originally Mediterranean plant that grows in Sardinia on uncultivated land and without irrigation. The plant protects the soil against erosion and was cultivated on marginal land unsuitable for food production. The harvested biomass served as a renewable raw material for various bio-based applications. Processing took place in a converted biorefinery in Porto Torres, a former petrochemical site that was thus given a new purpose.
Contaminated soil back into production
The pHYBi project converts underutilized residual streams from agriculture and forestry into high-value products using degraded, polluted, or saline soils. Robust non-food crops such as poplar, birch, willow, hemp, and miscanthus are grown on these lands. The approach combines phytoremediation with biomass production, in which plants and soil microorganisms sequester pollutants such as heavy metals and organic compounds, gradually improving soil quality. The biomass is processed into, among other things, textile fibers and biofuels, without competing with land for food production. According to Andrea Martos of technology partner IDENER, this makes unusable plots productive again and initiates the restoration of soil structure and biodiversity. The project is being tested at multiple European pilot sites, including Belorado in Spain, Pierrelaye in France, and demonstration areas in Croatia.
The publication anticipates the seventeenth Conference of Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP17), which will take place in August in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. That meeting focuses on land restoration and drought resilience, as part of the International Year of Grazing Lands and Pastors.
Source: cbe.europa.eu
