The EU Soil Observatory (EUSO) aims to be the principal provider of reference data
and knowledge at EU-level for all matters relating to soil.

____________________
 

The EUSO is a dynamic and inclusive platform that provides the relevant Commission Services, together with the broader soil user community, with the knowledge and data flows needed to safeguard and restore soils.

The EUSO supports EU soil policies by ensuring that the Commission can make full use of the information made available through integrated data flows by transitioning from simply monitoring to understanding. In this manner, the EUSO will support the implementation of all soil related objectives of the European Green Deal.

To achieve these main objectives, the EUSO has five sub-objectives:

1. Support the development of an operational EU-Wide Soil Monitoring System.
2. Monitor the state of soil health and the policies in place to enhance soil protection, through the EUSO Dashboards.
3. Consolidate and enhance the capacity and functionality of the European Soil Data Centre (ESDAC).
4. Support research and innovation through the implementation of Horizon Europe’s Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’.
5. Provide an open and inclusive EUSO Stakeholders Forum and support citizen engagement and the drive towards a societal change in the perception of soil. 

WHAT WE DO

1. EUSO supports the development of an operational EU-Wide Soil Monitoring System, through the LUCAS Soil Module. The LUCAS Soil survey is currently the only EU-wide harmonised and regular soil survey. It covers the entire territory of the European Union, addressing all major land cover types simultaneously, in a single sampling period. Results of the LUCAS Soils survey are available for 2009, 2015 and 2018. The 2022 survey included a target of 41,000 soil samples, a doubling from the previous 2018 campaign.
    
2. The EUSO Soil Degradation Dashboard, launched in 2023 and updated in 2024 and 2025, monitors the state of soil degradation in the EU through 19 indicators. It provides  a spatial assessment of soil degradation in the EU and is a major contribution to soil literacy and soil monitoring in the EU. In addition, the EU Soil Strategy Actions Tracker is a tool to track the actions listed in the EU Soil Strategy for 2030  
    
3. The European Soil Data Centre (ESDAC), as a core part of the EUSO, has become the leading web platform for gathering and sharing data and knowledge about EU soils. The ESDAC platform currently hosts over 120 datasets, over 6000 maps, ca 600 scientific documents (including over 440 scientific publications), 7 atlases and a wide range of soil related material.
    
4. In support to soil research and innovation, EUSO contributed directly to advanced scientific knowledge on EU-soils. EUSO published 46 new scientific papers in 2024, 46 in 2023 and 40 in 2022. Furthermore, EUSO is actively involved in, and responsible for, the soil monitoring elements of the Horizon Europe Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’ (Mission Soil) and contributed to its annual work programme. EUSO also worked in close collaboration with some of the Mission Soil projects
    
5. EUSO organises and contributes the activities in support to citizen engagement and soil awareness raising. Highlights include the EUSO Stakeholders Forum and the European Mission Soil Week.
    
6. All EUSO’s activities lead towards policy support to a wide range of soil related areas.

Key results and outcomes of the main activities of EUSO can be found in the EUSO bulletin 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021.

The EUSO Working Groups (WG) are a key element of the EUSO. These working groups consist of topical experts from academia, businesses and policy, who come together to discuss technical advances in their specific topic. Currently, seven working groups are active: (1) WG Soil erosion, (2) WG data sharing and integration, (3) WG Soil pollution, (4) WG Soil monitoring, (5) WG Soil biodiversity, (6) WG Soil organic carbon monitoring reporting and verification, and (7) WG Nutrients.