# EUR-Lex - 52012DC0046 - EN

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# 52012DC0046

**REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS The implementation of the Soil Thematic Strategy and ongoing activities /* COM/2012/046 final */**

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REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE
AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

The implementation of the Soil Thematic
Strategy and ongoing activities

1.
Introduction

This
report provides an overview of the implementation of the Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection[1] since its adoption in
September 2006. The objective of the Strategy is to protect the soil while
using it sustainably, through the prevention of further degradation, the
preservation of soil function and the restoration of degraded soils. This
report also presents current soil degradation trends both in Europe and
globally, as well as future challenges to ensure protection.

2.
The four pillars of the Strategy – an update
2.1.
Awareness raising

Soil functions – despite their fundamental
role for the ecosystem and the economy, and unlike air and water – are taken
for granted and perceived to be in abundance. Soil degradation generally goes
unnoticed, as it is a slow process in which immediate dramatic effects rarely
occur. For these reasons, raising awareness about soil presents a particular
challenge. Recently it has been helped by several films and documentaries[2].

The Commission has organised several public
events dedicated to soil, including major conferences on soil, climate change
and biodiversity, contributions to meetings on the Convention on Biological
Diversity, and several talks at Green Week. Moreover, leaflets and brochures
have been made available in a number of EU languages[3]. The Commission has also
published a number of soil atlases, including the Soil Atlas of Europe
and the European Atlas of Soil Biodiversity. It has also established a
working group on Awareness Raising and Education in the context of the European
Soil Bureau Network (ESBN)[4].

The Strategy has acted as an important
driver for numerous soil awareness raising tools and networks that have been
developed in Member States, including the European Network for Soil Awareness
(ENSA).

2.2.
Research

Since the adoption of the Strategy, around
25 research projects have been funded under the Seventh Framework Programme for
Research[5]
specifically to address soil issues and help complete the knowledge base for
action. For example, RAMSOIL has identified a number of risk assessment methodologies
for soil degradation processes, demonstrating comparability among different
methodologies; ENVASSO has proposed minimum requirements for a gradual
harmonisation of soil monitoring activities and policy-relevant soil
indicators; SOILSERVICE has drawn up long-term land use change scenarios and
indicated that intensive agricultural production which fails to pay proper
attention to soil biodiversity and soil functions may not be economically
profitable after 2050, unless corrective action is taken.

Interesting results are expected from
LUCAS, a survey on land cover, land use and agro-environmental indicators[6]. In the 2009 and 2012 surveys,
a specific soil module has been integrated in order to provide statistics and
indicators for the European Soil Data Centre (ESDAC)[7] hosted by the Joint Research
Centre (JRC) of the Commission. This could be a starting point for harmonised
European monitoring of soil parameters for a whole range of statistical,
research and policy purposes.

The BIOSOIL project, launched in the
context of the Forest Focus Regulation[8],
has reported an increase in organic carbon in some European forest soils.

2.3.
Integration

Different Union policies play a key role in
working towards the goal of sustainable use of soil. Since the Strategy was adopted,
the Commission has continued its work on soil integration, in particular in the
context of the following:

·
Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Aspects of soil protection have been an integral part of Good
Agricultural and Environmental Conditions (GAEC) since the introduction of cross
compliance in 2003. Emphasis has been placed on limiting erosion, retaining
and improving organic matter, and avoiding compaction. Taking stock of the
experience gained, in October 2011 the Commission proposed to further clarify
and specify soil-related standards in the context of the overall CAP reform to
2020[9]. In particular, it proposed a
new GAEC on organic matter protection, including a ban on arable stubble
burning and an obligation not to plough wetlands and carbon-rich soils. Member
States have a broad margin of discretion in determining national GAEC
obligations for farmers provided that the EU framework is respected[10]. Cross compliance provides for
minimum soil protection conditions and, by its nature, cannot adress all soil
degradation processes. Rural Development[11] provides for agri-environment
schemes which may specifically support soil-protective operations (8.8% of the
budget spent in 2007-2008[12]).
It is expected that 21.4% of the utilised agricultural area will be covered by
measures targeting soil quality in the period 2007-2013, as compared to 30.7%
dedicated to avoiding marginalisation and 33.0% to protect biodiversity[13]. There is therefore scope for
increasing the uptake of measures to improve soil quality and extend the
surface area covered. In addition, the new Rural Development proposal includes
the objectives of sustainable management of natural resources and climate
mitigation and adaptation, including by means of improved soil management and
enhanced carbon sequestration in agriculture and forestry. The greening of the
first pillar of the CAP, as proposed by the Commission, would improve the
situation further, particularly in relation to erosion and soil organic matter.

·
Industrial installations. The recently adopted Industrial Emissions Directive (IED)[14] has introduced provisions to
ensure that the operation of an installation does not lead to a deterioration
in the quality of soil (and groundwater). These provisions set a sort of
"zero tolerance" policy for new pollution and underpin the ‘polluter
pays’ principle. However, a large number of potentially polluting activities
are not within the scope of the IED, which in any event only covers active
installations. A potentially important tool for tracking industrial pollutants
is the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR)[15]. However, in 2009 only 144
installations reported a release of pollutants to soil, compared to almost
3,000 for water and more than 11,000 for air.

·
Cohesion Policy.
Despite the fact that there is no specific EU legal basis for soil protection,
around €3.1 billion have been allocated to the rehabilitation of industrial
sites and contaminated land as part of the Cohesion Policy in the period
2007-2013 out of a total of around €49.6 billion of planned EU investments
under the Environment theme[16].
Hungary, the Czech Republic and Germany have allocated the most funding (€475,
371, and 332 million respectively). By the end of 2010, Member States had
allocated about 28% of funds to specific projects. Thus, considerable resources
are available to tackle the EU’s industrial legacy in eligible
regions (see Figure 1). The Commission has proposed
that the Cohesion Funds and the European Regional Development Fund should
continue to support the regeneration of brownfield sites in the next
programming period 2014-2020[17].
In addition, the EU macro-regional strategies include some specific actions on
soil protection (particularly on solid waste).

·
State aids for the remediation of soil
contamination. Member States may grant State aid
for carrying out soil remediation under the Environmental aid guidelines[18]. However, such aid can be granted only if the ‘polluter pays’
principle is fully respected, i.e. the polluter liable for the contamination is
unknown or cannot be made to bear the costs. In the period 2005-2010, the
Commission deemed several schemes or individual measures aiming at remediating
contaminated sites in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany,
the Netherlands, Slovakia and the United Kingdom to be compatible with the
Treaty. It verified that the ‘polluter pays’ principle was properly applied, in
particular by ensuring that environmental liabilities were correctly
transferred. The total aid thus approved was in excess of €8 billion[19].

Figure 1: Eligible areas under the Structural Funds (2007-2013)[20]

|| Convergence Regions || || Phasing-in Regions

|| Phasing-out Regions || || Competitiveness and Employement Regions

2.4.
Legislation

Based on a need to tackle soil
productivity, risks to human health and the environment, and to provide
opportunities for climate mitigation and adaptation as well as stimulating
business opportunities for soil remediation, the Commission proposed a Soil
Framework Directive[21]
in 2006, which also addresses the transboundary nature of soil degradation. The
European Parliament adopted its first reading on the proposal in November 2007
by a majority of about two thirds. At the March 2010 Environment Council, a
minority of Member States blocked further progress on grounds of subsidiarity, excessive
cost and administrative burden. No further progress has since been made by the
Council. The proposal remains on the Council's table.

3.
Soil degradation continues...

Land degradation in its various forms is a
fundamental and persistent problem. The situation in Europe is mirrored and
magnified in many parts of the world. It is also a global development issue, as
soil degradation, poverty and migration are mutually reinforcing, but that is
often largely ignored, because observed impacts are gradual.

3.1.
... globally...

Desertification, land degradation and
drought affect over 1.5 billion people in more than 110 countries, 90% of whom
live in low income areas. According to UNEP[22],
up to 50,000 km2 are lost annually through land degradation, mainly due to soil
erosion. Each year, the planet loses 24 billion tonnes of topsoil. Over the
last two decades, enough has been lost to cover the entire cropland of the
United States. Desertification costs the world more than $40 billion a year in
lost productivity[23].

Soil degradation caused by human activities
contributes to climate change. It is responsible for 20% of the carbon emitted
to the atmosphere between 1850 and 1998[24].
The drainage and conversion of the world's peatlands alone causes emissions of
up to 0.8 billion tonnes of carbon a year, much of which could be avoided
through restoration[25].

A legacy of contaminated sites is common to
all old industrial heartlands, but also affects developing countries and countries with economies in transition. A
recent report estimates the number of contaminated sites (mainly waste dumps)
in India[26] at 36,000; experts
believe that there are between 300,000 and 600,000 contaminated sites in China[27].

3.2.
... and in the EU

The 2010 Status of the Environment Report
of the European Environment Agency demonstrates that soil degradation is
increasing[28],
as the following examples show:

·
Soil sealing (the
permanent covering of soil with an impermeable material) and associated land
take lead to the loss of important soil functions (such as water filtration and
storage, and food production). Between 1990 and 2000, at least 275 hectares of
soil were lost per day in the EU, amounting to 1,000 km2 per year. Between 2000
and 2006, the EU average loss increased by 3%, but by 14% in Ireland and Cyprus,
and by 15% in Spain[29].
In the period 1990-2006, 19 Member States lost a potential agricultural
production capability equivalent to a total of 6.1 million tonnes of wheat,
with large regional variations (see Figure 2). This is a far from insignificant
figure, given the levelling off of agricultural productivity increases that has
already been experienced and the fact that, to compensate for the loss of one
hectare of fertile land in Europe, it would be necessary to bring into use an
area up to ten times larger in another part of the world[30].

Figure
2: Potential wheat yield losses (%) in 19 EU countries (1990-2006).

·
A recent new model of soil erosion by
water constructed by the JRC has estimated the surface area affected in EU-27
at 1.3 million km2 (see Figure 3). Almost 20% of these are subjected to a soil loss in excess of 10 t/ha/y.
Erosion is not only a serious problem for soil functions (estimated to cost €53
million per year in the United Kingdom alone[31]);
it also has an impact on the quality of freshwater, as it transfers nutrients
and pesticides to water bodies. For example, agricultural losses of phosphorus
exceed 0.1 kg/ha/y across much of Europe, but reach levels in excess of 1.0
kg/ha/y in hotspots[32].
Addressing erosion will thus be a key contribution to achieving EU water objectives.
Soil erosion is particularly intensive in forest fires areas, estimated at 500,000
ha/y by the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS)[33].

Figure 3: Soil erosion by water in the EU (t/ha/y).

·
As an extreme form of land degradation, desertification
results in a serious impairment of all soil functions. While there is still no
scientifically-sound assessment at European level, one factor that contributes
to desertification is an unfavourable trend in productive capacity. Figure 4,
produced by the JRC in preparation for the World Atlas of Desertification[34], shows the areas where
productive capacity has been constantly decreasing in the past few decades. If
confirmed by other factors, this could indicate increasing desertification
across Europe.

Figure 4: Evolution of net primary productivity (1982-2006).

|| Unfavourable || || Favourable

|| Fluctuating (negative) || || Fluctuating (positive)

|| Bare areas ||

·
While naturally saline soils exist in certain
parts of Europe, irrigation water – even if it is of high quality – includes
minerals and salts that are gradually accumulated in the soil, causing salinisation.
The continuing expansion of irrigation – with related problems of water
scarcity and the increasing use of groundwater of marginal quality –
accelerates salinisation, thereby affecting soil productivity. However, there
are no systematic data available on trends across Europe.

·
Deposition of acidifying air pollutants (e.g.
ammonia, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides) contributes to soil
acidification, which lowers the pH of the soil, thereby modifying the soil
ecosystem, mobilising heavy metals and reducing crop yields. While air
deposition models predict a significant improvement in the period 1990-2010, at
least a quarter of the measured samples in a recent assessment of forest
monitoring plots showed that critical limits for acidifying substances were
being exceeded to a substantial degree. The situation for other soil cover
types is not known, as there is no systematic monitoring of soil acidification
across Europe for non-forested soils[35].

·
Soil biodiversity
provides numerous essential services, including releasing nutrients in forms
that can be used by plants and other organisms, purifying water by removing
contaminants and pathogens, contributing to the composition of the atmosphere
by participating in the carbon cycle, and providing a major source of genetic
and chemical resources (e.g. antibiotics). An indicator-based map prepared by
the JRC[36]
(see Figure 5) shows a preliminary assessment of where soil biodiversity is
threatened. This includes areas of high population density and/or intense
agricultural activity (e.g. cereals and industrial crops, animal husbandry,
greenhouses, fruit orchards, vineyards and horticulture).

·
Landslides are a
major threat in mountainous and hilly areas across Europe (land abandonment
being an aggravating factor), often producing serious impacts on population,
property and infrastructure. Over 630,000 landslides are currently registered
in national databases. The areas prone to landslides are shown in Figure 6.

·
It is difficult to quantify the full extent of
local soil contamination, as the vast majority of Member States lack
comprehensive inventories, although this is covered by the proposed Soil
Framework Directive. In 2006, the European Environment Agency estimated that
there were a total of three million potentially contaminated sites in the EU,
of which 250,000 were actually contaminated. Remediation is progressing,
although there are wide variations between Member States, reflecting the
presence or absence of national legislation. It has been estimated that, in
2004, the turn-over of the soil remediation industry in EU-27 amounted to €5.2
billion, of which 21.6% spent in Germany, 20.5% in the Netherlands, and 5.9%
each in France and the United Kingdom[37].

Figure 5: Potential threats to soil biodiversity.

|| Extremely low || || High

|| Very low || || Very high

|| Low || || Extremely high

|| Intermediate / moderate ||

Figure 6: Landslide susceptibility in the EU and neighbouring
countries (preliminary map)[38].

|| Very low || || Moderately high

|| Low || || High to very high

|| Moderately low ||

4.
Current and upcoming challenges

Both in the EU and worldwide, soil
degradation has increased in the past decade. This trend is likely to continue
unless several factors are addressed:

·
Land use. The
growth in world population, the rising consumption of meat and dairy products
in the emerging economies, and the increased use of biomass for energy and
other industrial purposes, will all lead to increased global land use and
potential soil degradation. At the same time, weather events linked to climate
change, desertification and land take for urbanisation and infrastructure will
exacerbate this trend. This matters to Europe because competition for land and
water resources creates serious risks of geopolitical imbalances. In addition,
land degradation leads to a global decrease in the amount of multi-functional land.
The EU will thus be even more dependent in future on its finite land resources
– which include some of the most fertile soils in the world – and on their
sustainable use.

·
Preservation of soil organic matter. EU soils contain more than 70 billion tonnes of organic carbon, which
is equivalent to almost 50 times our annual greenhouse gas emissions. However,
intensive and continuous arable production may lead to a decline of soil
organic matter. In 2009, European cropland emitted an average of 0.45 tonnes of
CO2 per hectare (much of which resulted from land conversion)[39]. The conversion of peatlands
and their use is particularly worrying. For instance, although only 8% of
farmland in Germany is on peatland, it is responsible for about 30% of the
total greenhouse gas emissions of its whole farming sector[40]. However, with appropriate
management practices, soil organic matter can be maintained and even increased.
Apart from peatlands, particular attention should be paid to the preservation of
permanent pastures and the management of forests soils, as carbon age in the latter can be as high as 400-1,000 years[41]. Keeping carbon stocks is thus
essential for the fulfilment of present and future emission reduction
commitments of the EU.

·
A more efficient use of resources. Agriculture is highly dependent on soil fertility and nutrients
availability. For example, it used 20-30 million tonnes of phosphorus annually
over the last thirty years, largely coming from outside the EU. Phosphate
fertilisers used in the EU do contain cadmium impurities, which accumulate in
soil. At the same time, large amounts of manure, bio-waste and sewage sludge
are produced every year, and are sometimes disposed of despite the fact that
they contain nutrients and organic matter. A way forward to address security of
supply, improve soil conditions and limit cadmium pollution is to ensure a
proper collection, treatment and use of these wastes and residues.

5.
Ongoing activities

The challenges outlined above and the fact
that soil degradation in Europe continues, make it important that the EU
improves the way in which it deals with soil-related issues, particularly in
the absence of Union legislation. Whilst the Soil Thematic Strategy has helped
raise the profile of these issues, there is still no systematic monitoring and
protection of soil quality across Europe some five years after its adoption.
This means that knowledge about the status and quality of soils remains
fragmented and soil protection is not undertaken in an effective and coherent
way in all Member States.

For its part, the Commission is continuing
with the following activities in line with the Strategy:

·
Awareness raising
initiatives (e.g. conferences, publications, public campaigns), training for
young researchers, integration of soil and soil protection aspects in EU-funded
information and training events, and specific soil deliverables for the
rotating Presidencies of the Council (e.g. information material on national
soil types).

·
Supporting research projects,
particularly in the areas of landslides, soil sealing, soil functions and their
link to biodiversity, the soil carbon and nitrogen cycles (with a focus on
peatland restoration), soil fertility, and nutrients recycling in agriculture.
Continuing to expand the activities of the European Soil Data Centre which hosts
soil data and information at European level.

·
To consolidate harmonised soil monitoring
for a variety of purposes, including food security and safety, diffuse
contamination, and climate change adaptation and mitigation, the Commission is
considering repeating soil investigations at regular intervals (five-ten
years), also by using new remote-sensing techniques. This harmonised monitoring
will be implemented in synergy with the Monitoring Mechanism Decision[42] currently being revised. The Global
Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) programme[43] will also be a source of
information, particularly on soil sealing.

·
Further integration of soil protection in
different policies. The Commission is developing a European Innovation
Partnership on Agriculture Productivity and Sustainability with a
particular focus on land management, including the efficient use of resources
and sustainable use of agricultural soil. It will work in the context of the EU
Biodiversity Strategy to 2020[44]
to improve knowledge and raise awareness about soil biodiversity. It is
actively engaged with Member States in discussing the soil-related measures in
the Resource Efficiency Roadmap[45],
the CAP and Regional Policy. Lastly, it will finalise guidelines on how to
limit, mitigate and compensate soil sealing, which will support the development
of the Blueprint to Safeguard Europe's Water[46]
and be used in the implementation of Cohesion Policy.

·
On legislation, the Commission in 2012
will review the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive[47], which will provide an
opportunity for better integrating soil concerns at an early stage of project
planning. Furthermore, it will consider how to devise incentives to reduce
carbon emissions and maintaining soil organic matter by accounting for the land
use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) sector as part of the EU's climate
change commitment for 2020.

·
In addition to domestic action, the Commission
will work at the international level to promote the establishment of an
inter-governmental panel on soils in the context of the FAO-sponsored Global
Soil Partnership[48].
Along with Germany and the Secretariat of the United Nations Convention to
Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the Commission is actively supporting an
initiative on the economics of land degradation[49] to set out incentives for
investment in sustainable land management policies. In addition, it will assess
the desirability of declaring the EU an affected party under that Convention[50].

The European Parliament, the Council, the
European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions are
invited to submit their views on this report in order to protect European
soils, while at the same time ensuring their sustainable use.

[1]               COM(2006)
231.

[2]               For example Dirt (USA), Humus (Austria),
Solutions locales pour un désastre global (France), and Il suolo minacciato
(Italy).

[3]               More
information at http://ec.europa.eu/environment/soil/index_en.htm.

[4]               http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/esbn/Esbn_overview.html.

[5]               http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/projects_en.html.

[6]               Decision No 1578/2007/EC.

[7]               http://esdac.jrc.ec.europa.eu/.

[8]               Regulation (EC) No 2152/2003.

[9]               http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/cap-post-2013/legal-proposals/index_en.htm.

[10]             http://ec.europa.eu/environment/soil/study1_en.htm.

[11]             Regulation (EC) No. 1698/2005.

[12]             Rural Development Information System-Indicator Database
Information Monitoring.

[13]             COM(2011) 450.

[14]             Directive 2010/75/EU.

[15]             http://prtr.ec.europa.eu/.

[16]             SEC(2010) 360.

[17]             COM(2011) 612 and COM(2011) 614.

[18]             OJ C 82, 1.4.2008, p. 1–33.

[19]             Aid above the de minimis threshold (currently
set at €200,000 over three years) provided for by Regulation (EC) No 1998/2006.

[20]             http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/atlas2007/index_en.htm.

[21]             COM(2006) 232.

[22]             http://www.unep.org/geo/GEO4/report/GEO-4_Report_Full_en.pdf.

[23]             http://www.nyo.unep.org/action/15f.htm.

[24]             R. Lal (2004), Soil Carbon Sequestration Impacts on
Global Climate Change and Food Security, Science 304, 1623-1627.

[25]             http://ec.europa.eu/environment/soil/pdf/report_conf.pdf.

[26]             Remediation of contaminated sites. Sharing experiences
and international practice feasible for India, APSF, 2011 (http://apsfenvironment.in/).

[27]             http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/2011-03/10/content_12146168_2.htm.

[28]             http://www.eea.europa.eu/soer.

[29]             http://ec.europa.eu/environment/soil/sealing.htm.

[30]             C. Gardi, P. Panagos, C. Bosco and D. de Brogniez, Soil
Sealing, Land Take and Food Security: Impact assessment of land take in the
production of the agricultural sector in Europe, JRC, 2011 (under peer review).

[31]             Safeguarding our Soils. A Strategy for England, DEFRA,
2009, p. 11.

[32]             http://www.eea.europa.eu/soer/europe/freshwater-quality.

[33]             http://effis.jrc.ec.europa.eu.

[34]             http://wad.jrc.ec.europa.eu.
The Atlas is due at the end of 2012.

[35]             http://www.eea.europa.eu/soer/europe/soil,
p. 16.

[36]             http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/maps/biodiversity_atlas/index.html,
p. 62-63.

[37]             http://ec.europa.eu/environment/enveco/eco_industry/pdf/ecoindustry2006.pdf
(Table 3, p. 30).

[38]             A. Günther, M. Van Den
Eeckhaut, P. Reichenbach, J. Hervás, J.P. Malet, C. Foster, F. Guzzetti, New
developments in harmonized landslide susceptibility mapping over Europe in the
framework of the European Soil Thematic Strategy. Proc. Second World Landslide
Forum, Rome, 3-7 October 2011 (in press).

[39]             http://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/european-union-greenhouse-gas-inventory-2011.

[40]             http://ec.europa.eu/environment/soil/pdf/report_conf.pdf,
p. 17.

[41]             Ibid., p. 13.

[42]             Decision No 280/2004/EC.

[43]             Regulation (EU) No 911/2010.

[44]             COM(2011) 244.

[45]             COM(2011) 571.

[46]             http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/blueprint/index_en.htm.

[47]             Directive 85/337/EEC.

[48]             http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/89277/icode/.

[49]             http://www.ifpri.org/blog/economics-land-degradation.

[50]             Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia,
Malta, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain have declared to be affected
by desertification under the UNCCD.