Kontext

Across Euro-Mediterranean landscapes, land users face converging pressures: recurrent droughts, reduced water availability, torrential rains, extreme heat and fire-prone conditions that undermine soils, productivity and the role of land as a natural GHG sink. These stresses are acute in vulnerable regions of Spain, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia and North Macedonia, where decisions on farming, forestry and wetlands management carry outsized climate and socio-economic impacts.

Practitioners report three practical gaps: (i) limited access to reliable, site-specific data and tools to plan under constraints (water, soils, markets); (ii) fragmented monitoring of soil health, carbon and climate risks at farm/landscape scales; and (iii) scarce skills/time to translate evidence into day-to-day choices—especially for smallholders and under-represented groups.

These challenges also bring opportunities. EARTHONE will co-create requirements with end-users through living-lab pilots and translate them into integrated multi-sensing, data and AI services: a scenario-building module and decision-support engine to test nature-based and management options under local pedoclimatic conditions; continuous monitoring of soil quality, GHG fluxes and climate hazards; and tailored guidance for resource-efficient practices (e.g., fertigation, erosion control). For farmers, forest holders and wetland managers, this means concrete pathways to cut inputs and emissions, bolster resilience and biodiversity, and protect ecosystem services while sustaining livelihoods. For authorities and advisors, it means transparent evidence to design and scale policies beyond pilot sites. Skills development and open educational resources will help end-users adopt the tools and replicate solutions across the LULUCF sector.

Objectives

The mission of EARTHONE is to address the pressing issue of preserving and enhancing Earth's natural terrestrial GHG sinks by understanding how different drivers, including socio-economic, demographic, and physical constraints affect GHG fluxes. The project adopts a unique and interdisciplinary approach, integrating state-of-the-art data-driven technology with regional context (with a special focus on the most vulnerable areas in south and Mediterranean Europe includingSpain, Greece, Italy,Slovenia, Croatia and North Macedonia) through living labs to offer effective multi-target solutions and guideline to all stakeholders in LULUCF topics.

Activities

EARTHONE delivers an integrated programme of co-creation, technology development, field pilots and impact pathways to help land managers, advisors and authorities make climate-smart decisions in LULUCF systems.

WP1 - Project & data governance. Establishes coordination, quality/risk management and reporting. It also delivers the Data Management Plan (initial, mid, final) to ensure FAIR, lawful and secure handling of multi-source data.

WP2 - Co-creation & requirements. Through living-lab workshops with farmers, foresters, wetland managers and authorities, the consortium elicits end-user needs, analyses the physical/legal/ethical/socio-economic context, and translates them into system requirements and a secure-by-design architecture. Gender and inclusivity considerations are embedded. Outputs: end-user requirements, framework analysis, and technical specifications.

WP3 - Data lifecycle & platform. The team develops: (i) multi-sensing and IoT capabilities for in-situ measurements (e.g., soil moisture, GHG fluxes, VOCs, phenology); (ii) the “Information Factory” core (data ingestion, storage, APIs, orchestration, green data-space alignment); (iii) an AI-enabled Scenario-Building Module and Decision Support System; and (iv) a cloud platform delivering beta and final releases. Key deliverables: multisensing structure, IF manual, DSS/scenario tools, platform beta and final .

WP4 - Pilots & validation. Six pilots (Spain, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia—wetland, and North Macedonia—agri/pasture) test nature-based and improved land-use measures (e.g., soil health interventions, adaptive silviculture, efficient fertigation). Activities include baseline/setup, continuous monitoring (soil quality, biodiversity, GHG fluxes), user trials of the platform/DSS, and socio-economic assessment. Outputs: pilots’ plan, results report , and soil health assessments .

WP5 - Climate & environmental analysis. Develops regional projections of extremes, phenological regions/dynamics, and quantifies LULUCF impacts on global to local climate to inform scenarios and policy guidance. Deliverables provide regional projections, phenology studies and impact assessments by project end.

WP6 - Communication, exploitation & policy. Executes a DEC plan; mobilises stakeholders via training, open educational resources and engagement; and synthesises pilots’ evidence into strategies for policy makers and scalable business/use cases.