The Working Group soil erosion aims to develop soil erosion indicators,
link soil erosion with other soil issues, improve large-scale assessments on soil erosion,
and propose soil conservation practices.
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The Working Group Soil erosion was established in 2021 and is co-chaired by EUSO staff and external partners. The WG Soil erosion includes more than 50 members, experts from academia, businesses or policy with recognised experience in the topic. The objectives of the WG Soil erosion are to develop an object oriented (bottom-up) approach for estimating soil erosion and erosion-related soil health indicators at farm scale. In addition, the WG develops integration of soil erosion with complementary issues such as soil contamination, nutrient losses and food security. Finally, the WG proposes ways to improve large-scale assessments on soil erosion and propose sustainable soil conservation practices.

The major achievements of the WG Soil erosion in 2023 are:

• The EUropean SEDiments collaboration (EUSEDcollab) database was compiled, containing a compilation of sediment data from monitored catchments in Europe. Multiple European research institutes contributed to the dataset. The resulting publication (Matthews et al., 2023) can be accessed through this link.
• The off-site costs of removing sediments from reservoirs in the EU was quantified. It was estimated that removing more than 1 billion of m³ of sediments due to erosion may cost about 5 – 8 billion euros per year (Panagos et al., 2024a). This quantification contributed to the impact assessment of the proposed Soil Monitoring Law. The associated publication can be accessed through this link.
• A database of multiple concurrent soil erosion processes was compiled. This first-ever assessment at European scale combines the threat of water, wind and tillage erosion and SLCH to estimate the cumulative impact on arable land. It is a basis for developing a comprehensive monitoring system for soil health. The resulted publication of Borrelli et al. (2023)can be accessed through this link. 
• The open access Global Rainfall Erosivity Database (GloREDa) was compiled. GloREDa is the first open access database of rainfall erosivity (R-factor) based on hourly and sub-hourly rainfall records at a global scale. The database was compiled through a global collaboration between a network of researchers, meteorological services and environmental organisations from 65 countries, mobilised through the WG Soil erosion. The resulting publication of Panagos et al. (2023)can be accessed through this link.

The main meeting of the WG Soil erosion was during the Third EUSO Stakeholders Forum (15-17 November 2023), during which the WG discussed with policymakers from DG ENV and DG AGRI the future needs for research in relation to soil conservation. The main policy drivers are the Soil Monitoring Law and the Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’. As a common ground for all policy developments, there is an urgent need for updated and more frequent assessments of soil erosion at European scale, updated indicators to better monitor soil erosion, enhanced knowledge of all erosion processes (water, wind, gully, tillage, piping, landslides, crop harvesting, etc.) and the effectiveness of best management practices to mitigate erosion based on different pedo-climatic conditions and cropping systems in Europe.

The WG Soil erosion invited several Mission Soil projects, involved in soil erosion related work packages, to participate in the Stakeholders Forum. AI4SoilHealth is working on a new soil erosion indicator considering soil stock, and the BENCHMARKS project explores erosion drivers at different scales and appropriate indicators. The Soil O-LIVE project focused on monitoring soil erosion in areas with olives, recognising their significant impact in the EU economy.

Also, scientists were invited to the Stakeholders Forum to present the future challenges in improving soil erosion estimation processes at European Scale. These contributions address major research gaps and support a better quantification of all erosion processes. Matthias Vanmaercke (KU Leuven) presented the latest achievements in modelling gully erosion globally, while Anita Bernatek-Jakiel (Jagiellonian University) the latest advances on the dataset and map built for Europe on piping erosion. Arthur Fendrich evidenced new methodologies for mapping cover crops, with a case study for France.

In 2022, the WG Soil erosion organised a successful workshop on “soil erosion in the EU” (Figure 14). A special issue was organised with the submission of 15 papers. In 2023, 9 papers in this special issue were accepted and published (Panagos et al., 2024b). The ongoing collaboration and research efforts underscore the commitment to address soil erosion challenges.

Figure 14. The soil erosion workshop in a nutshell.

Source: JRC analysis.

The WG Soil erosion launched in 2023 a call for soil erosion plot data in the EU, targeting soil erosion by water data from European field experiments (EU_ERPlot). Data submissions from contributors across the European continent who wish to share access to their soil erosion measurements are welcome. The objective of this network is to make data open and accessible to the community, towards the improvement of the understanding of soil erosion processes, model development, and ultimately preserve past and present data records, in a harmonized format and updatable platform. Deadline for the first stage: 31.3.2024