Brussels - The European Commission proposed a strategy to ensure that Europe's soils will in the future be capable of supporting human activities and the ecosystem.
Soil degradation is accelerating across the European continent and in order to reverse this trend, the European Union's strategy sets a common E.U. framework for action but leaves to the member states the flexibility to implement it in a way which fits local situations the best.
At the same time it will allow member states to decide the level of ambition, specific targets and the measures to reach those targets.
Throughout Europe, 320 major soil types have been identified. The flexibility is proposed as it recognises that a "one-fit-all" approach would not work.
The Soils Strategy is the last of seven Thematic Strategies of the European Commission.
An estimated 115 million hectares of Europe's total land area are subject to water erosion and another 42 million hectares by wind erosion, plus approximately 3.5 million sites within the European Union could be contaminated.
About 45% of European soils have low organic matter content especially in the southern part of Europe.
Only nine member states have specific legislation on soil protection, most of them covering a specific threat in particular soil contamination.
The threat of desertification exist in Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain . In the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium (Flanders) there is the threat of contamination.
The objectives of the environmental strategy is to define a comprehensive approach which focuses on the preservation of soil functions and that will be based on two principles:
The first is preventing further soil degradation by acting on soil use and management patterns.
The second is restoring degraded soils to a level that is functionality consistent at least with current and intended use and at the same time taking into consideration the cost of the restoration of soil.
Erosion, organic matter decline, salinisation, landslides and contamination might be costing the European Union up to 38-billion Euro a year. As the costs of other threats could not be assessed, the real costs of soil degradation are likely to exceed this estimate.
The Directive does not establish who bears the costs, but they will be borne in varying degrees by land users, economic sectors, national budgets or the European Union budget.
Israel Rafalovich
irafalovich@gmx.net
Soil degradation is accelerating across the European continent and in order to reverse this trend, the European Union's strategy sets a common E.U. framework for action but leaves to the member states the flexibility to implement it in a way which fits local situations the best.
At the same time it will allow member states to decide the level of ambition, specific targets and the measures to reach those targets.
Throughout Europe, 320 major soil types have been identified. The flexibility is proposed as it recognises that a "one-fit-all" approach would not work.
The Soils Strategy is the last of seven Thematic Strategies of the European Commission.
An estimated 115 million hectares of Europe's total land area are subject to water erosion and another 42 million hectares by wind erosion, plus approximately 3.5 million sites within the European Union could be contaminated.
About 45% of European soils have low organic matter content especially in the southern part of Europe.
Only nine member states have specific legislation on soil protection, most of them covering a specific threat in particular soil contamination.
The threat of desertification exist in Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain . In the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium (Flanders) there is the threat of contamination.
The objectives of the environmental strategy is to define a comprehensive approach which focuses on the preservation of soil functions and that will be based on two principles:
The first is preventing further soil degradation by acting on soil use and management patterns.
The second is restoring degraded soils to a level that is functionality consistent at least with current and intended use and at the same time taking into consideration the cost of the restoration of soil.
Erosion, organic matter decline, salinisation, landslides and contamination might be costing the European Union up to 38-billion Euro a year. As the costs of other threats could not be assessed, the real costs of soil degradation are likely to exceed this estimate.
The Directive does not establish who bears the costs, but they will be borne in varying degrees by land users, economic sectors, national budgets or the European Union budget.
Israel Rafalovich
irafalovich@gmx.net