At LGI, we are committed to driving environmental goals across Europe. One pressing concern today is the health of our soils. our food systems, directly influencing climate, economic resilience, and overall societal well-being.
In soil health projects, one of our key areas of expertise lies in stakeholder engagement.
What is stakeholder engagement
Stakeholder engagement is not only a means for us, as partners in a project, to communicate with these groups and gather their input, it also serves as a way to bring these diverse stakeholders together. It creates opportunities for collaboration and knowledge sharing, allowing them to exchange ideas, co-develop solutions, combine efforts, and work towards common goals and decisions, something essential to achieving effective and sustainable project outcomes.
For LGI, stakeholder engagement means facilitating these connections, ensuring that the right voices are involved, that expertise is shared, and efforts are aligned across different projects and initiatives.
Challenges
While European projects aim for broad, impactful outcomes, success requires a deep understanding of local contexts. LGI therefore works closely with local partners who have strong connections to their regional and local stakeholders, as these partners are better equipped to engage the community and communicate effectively in their own languages.
Stakeholder engagement & soil health
Similar to other missions, stakeholders play a central role when it comes to soil health. The term 'stakeholders' is used to refer to a diverse group of individuals, organisations, and entities that have a direct or indirect involvement in activities such as living labs, lighthouses, or experimental sites.
Stakeholders can include a wide range of actors including farmers, foresters, landowners, researchers, NGOs, and public authorities, and they can be present various levels. Local level stakeholders, such as farmers, tend to be directly connected to the land and its management, making their involvement essential for implementing and demonstrating sustainable practices on the ground. Regional or national level stakeholders, on the other hand, contribute to creating the scientific, policy and organisational frameworks needed to guide and support local efforts.
Together, these stakeholders form the foundation of any initiative aimed at improving soil health, biodiversity and nature conservation. Their active involvement is essential to achieving meaningful objectives and driving impactful outcomes.
Value of stakeholder engagement
The diversity of stakeholders in the context of soil health offers access to a wide range of expertise, knowledge, and hands-on experience, which is essential for understanding the specific needs and challenges in soil management. From farmers and foresters to researchers, NGOs, local authorities, and community members, each group brings a unique perspective that contributes to improving soil health. Farmers and landowners, for example, have firsthand knowledge of soil conditions and engage directly with land management, while researchers provide valuable scientific insights and innovations, and NGOs bring in broader environmental perspectives and policy expertise. Local authorities play a key role in shaping regulations and supporting on-the-ground implementation.
Moreover, engaging stakeholders goes beyond just involving them in our projects, it’s about ensuring that our project outcomes provide real, tangible benefits that address their specific needs. This needs to be taken into account from the very beginning.
Nature Transition Hub
At LGI, we will continue to support the EU mission forward. One way we do this is with our established Nature Hub, which is a dedicated space where we internally collaborate with colleagues working in projects linked to biodiversity, nature conservation and soil health. The Nature Hub allows us to align our services more effectively with the evolving needs and challenges of these sectors. We bring together and strengthen our expertise in socio-economic impact assessments, business model innovations, as well as stakeholder engagement to better support projects and stakeholders to advance soil health practices, shape sustainable agricultural policies, promote responsible forestry, and ensure resilient food production systems.
We are excited about the growing impact stakeholder engagement brings in soil projects and are delighted to contribute to these efforts by sharing our expertise, resources, and commitment for healthy soils.