Soil at JRC > SOER2010 (State of Environment Report 2010) > Section 5. Response
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Section 0. Summary Section 1. Introduction Section 2. State and Trends Section 3. Impacts Section 4. Outlook 2020 Section 5. Response Glossary/supporting information References |
 SOER 2010 |
5.1 A pan-European approach to increased soil protection
After a thorough development process involving a broad range of stakeholders, the European Commission adopted a Soil Thematic Strategy on 22 September 2006 (EC, 2006d). The strategy tackles the full range of threats and creates a common framework to protect soil. Its objective is to halt and reverse the process of degradation, ensuring that EU soils stay healthy for future generations and remain capable of supporting the ecosystems on which our economic activities and our wellbeing depend.
The strategy explains why EU action is needed to ensure a high level of soil protection, and what kind of measures must be taken. The objective is to define a common and comprehensive approach to soil protection, focusing on the preservation of soil functions. An integral part of the strategy is the proposal for a Soil Framework Directive (EC, 2006e) [Link 21], which is structured along three lines: 1) Preventive measures: Member States must ensure a sustainable use of soil. If soil is used in a way that hampers its functions, mitigating actions must be undertaken. Other policies' impacts on soil must be assessed; 2) Identification of the problem: Member States must identify the areas where there is a risk of erosion, decline in organic matter, salinisation, acidification, compaction, or landslides. As far as contamination is concerned, Member States must draw up an inventory of contaminated sites; 3) Operational measures: Member States will then have to act upon the risks identified by adopting programmes of measures for the risk areas, national remediation strategies for the contaminated sites, and measures to limit or mitigate sealing. However, Member States have a large scope to set targets and to decide how and by when to achieve them.
As abundantly shown in Chapter 2, soil degradation in the EU is continuing to occur and is actually worsening for certain processes in some parts of Europe. This is a clear demonstration that existing policies and legislation, at EU as much as at national level, have not been sufficient. Action is required at EU level, both because of the crucial functions soil performs for society and European ecosystems, and because of legislative differences between Member States in dealing (or not dealing) with soil problems that may distort competition within the single market, hinder the action of the more pro-active Member States, and prevent the Union from meeting its international targets (e.g. in climate and biodiversity conventions). In addition, soil quality is strongly related to other environmental aspects of EU relevance (e.g. air, water, biodiversity, the carbon cycle). An effective policy for the future cannot neglect to take care of soil protection because of its links to other environmental goals (e.g. the Water Framework Directive).
The legislative proposal has received the backing of the European Parliament in November 2007, but so far the Environment Ministers have not been able to reach a qualified majority in its favour. Despite a majority of Member States supporting the proposal, a number of countries argue that soil degradation does not have transboundary consequences and thus soil legislation should be matter of national competence only (the principle of subsidiarity). Other concerns include the private ownership of soil, the administrative burden, technical arguments regarding the delineation of vulnerable areas and costs of making inventories. However, soil degradation does have transboundary consequences (e.g. eroded sediments, loss of soil carbon, spreading of contamination across borders) and any 'wait-and-see' policy would lead to more soil degradation across the EU. Some countries are already adopting aspects of the EU Soil Thematic Strategy into their national legislation.
In the context of the Soil Thematic Strategy, European policy makers require access to European soil data and information of various types to assess the state of soils at European level. As part of this need to collect and assess soil data and information, the European Commission and the European Environment Agency decided to establish a European Soil Data Centre (ESDAC), located at the EC's Joint Research Centre, as one of ten environmental data centres in Europe. ESDAC acts as the primary data contact point for EEA and the Commission to fulfil their information needs. The establishment and the evaluation of harmonised databases would enable a better identification of the necessary soil protection measures.
5.2 The role of the Common Agricultural Policy in promoting sound soil/land management practices
At present, the impacts of changes to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) on overall soil quality are difficult to assess accurately. Specifically on the issue of SOM levels, the CAP appears to have effectively maintained the status quo in many grassland areas albeit it is not known which land use would have existed if marginal areas had been abandoned or converted to other uses. The cross-compliance requirement to sustain levels of permanent pasture (within certain margins) could maintain soil structure and organic matter levels in soil, and so soil carbon. In contrast, abolition of permanent set-aside land leads to negative impacts on soils. Following the Health Check of the CAP in 2009, the requirement for arable farmers to leave 10 % of their land fallow was abolished. As this loosening of regulations will allow land to go back into production under tillage crops to maximise production, the change could lead to a reduction in soil carbon stocks and an increase in emissions of CO2.
The CAP is able to encourage a number of farming practices that maintain soil fertility and organic matter levels by improving the physical characteristics of soil and its capacity to retain water (e.g. agri-environmental measures, organic farming, increase nutrient soil nutrient levels through natural fixation by plants and crop rotation). Conservation agriculture comprises a combination of practices with reduced impacts on the composition and structure of the soil, reducing the risk of erosion and degradation, and loss of soil biodiversity. This includes, for example, no-tillage, reduced tillage, cover crops and crop rotation. Current good agricultural and environmental condition (GAEC) standards for soil protection may be useful for improving the long-term relationship between agriculture and soil. However, soil sealing, contamination, salinisation and shallow landslides are not subject to specific standards, although measures adopted for maintaining good agricultural conditions, for example, soil structure, can in principle be considered to contribute to the prevention of landslides. In addition, GAEC standards apply to land subject to direct payments, not to all agricultural land. For the future of the CAP, the removal or reduction of production-related agricultural subsidies and increased support for agri-environmental measures may have beneficial impacts by increasing the potential for carbon sequestration through allowing for the reversion of some agricultural land into more natural eco-systems and also its conversion to other land uses such as forestry. It is clear that land use strategies have to consider factors such as food security, the provision of raw materials and biodiversity.
The EU Forest Action Plan (EC, 2006f) should also provide a positive contribution to soil protection by supporting and enhancing sustainable forest management and the multifunctional role of forests. Of particular significance are the key objectives relating to the maintenance and enhancement of biodiversity, carbon sequestration, integrity, health and resilience of forest ecosystems at various geographical scales.
5.3 Rural development, sustainable agriculture and soil conservation
Agriculture occupies a substantial proportion of European land, and consequently plays an important role in maintaining natural resources and cultural landscapes. Unsustainable farming practices and land use, including mismanaged intensification and land abandonment, have an adverse impact on natural resources. Having recognised the environmental challenges of agricultural land use, in 2007 the European Parliament requested the European Commission to carry out a pilot project on 'Sustainable Agriculture and Soil Conservation through simplified cultivation techniques' (SoCo). [Link 22]
The SoCo report concluded that there is a range of measures within the current rural development policy (EAFRD) that are appropriate for supporting sustainable soil management. These include national agri-environment measures and the provision of advice and training to farmers. Given the appropriateness of existing instruments, rural development policy should continue to address soil conservation needs. The development of reliable, comprehensive and operational indicators on (i) the state of soils (soil degradation); (ii)the social impact (cost) of soil degradation; and (iii) the impacts of soil protection, conservation and improvement practices, as encouraged in the proposed Soil Framework Directive, should be prioritised in order to produce a more accurate baseline estimate of the condition of European soils at the start of the next rural development programme.
5.4 Mitigation and adaptation to climate change
The European Commission's recent White Paper, 'Adapting to climate change: Towards a European framework for action' (EC, 2009a) recognises the role that soils can play in providing essential resources for social and economic purposes under extreme climatic conditions, for example by improving the soil's carbon and water storage capacity, and conserving water in natural systems to alleviate the effects of droughts and prevent floods, soil erosion and desertification. Ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, flood protection and protection from soil erosion, are directly linked to climate change, and healthy ecosystems are an essential defence against some of its most extreme impacts. But soils also have an important and untapped potential in terms of mitigation. As agricultural soils are concerned, it has been estimated that the technical potential for mitigation through optimised carbon management of agricultural soils at EU-15 level is between 60–70 million tonnes CO2 per year (EC, 2009b). While the level of implementation and mitigation potential of the soil and land management options varies considerably from country to country, overall they have the advantage of being readily available and relatively low-cost, and not requiring unproven technology. In addition, while the potential of individual measures may be limited, the combined effect of several practices can make a significant contribution to mitigation (EC, 2009c).
5.5 Indicators
Given the difficulties of measuring changes in soil characteristics and functions, focus is being placed on the development of indicators. The recent EU-funded ENVASSO project — ENVironmental ASsessment of Soil for mOnitoring — (Kibblewhite et al., 2008) investigated the feasibility of deriving indicators relating to the key threats to soil. The project identified a set of 27 priority indicators, with baseline and threshold values, that could be rigorously defined and implemented relatively easily to form a Europe-wide reference base that could be used to assess current and future soil status. Due to an inadequate scientific base or a lack of statistical data in many Member States, indicators for wind and tillage erosion, peat stocks, landslides, re-use of previously developed land, and progress in the management of contaminated land could not be defined. This lack of data highlights the requirement to establish harmonised monitoring networks with adequate updating intervals.
5.6 Raising awareness
The Commission's Soil Thematic Strategy noted a marked lack of public awareness of the importance of soil and the need for soil protection. It stressed the need for measures to improve knowledge and exchange information on best practices to fill this gap. The JRC's European Soil Bureau Network has therefore established a Working Group on Public Awareness and Educational Initiatives for Soil. This group, together with initiatives such as from the European Land and Soil Alliance (ELSA) is aiming to improve this situation through targeted educational measures for school curriculums, university courses, policymakers and the general public.
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EU Soil Policy
Section 0. Summary
2013 Work Programme