Debate: Soil protection
Date: MONDAY, 26 APRIL 2021
Speaker: Virginijus Sinkevičius
Language: EN

Soil is also the only environmental medium which so far is not covered by a comprehensive and coherent policy framework. This gap reduces the effectiveness of the existing incentives and measures and would limit Europe’s ability to achieve future Green Deal objectives. So I’m therefore convinced that we need a holistic policy framework on soil. Without it, soil and land degradation will continue to accelerate, further aggravating the climate and biodiversity crisis. The EU will risk failing to achieve its Green Deal targets on climate change, biodiversity and food security and safety. Lastly, there will be no level playing field for EU economic operators that use the soil, which creates distortion in the common market. With a common framework, in full respect of subsidiarity and proportionality, we will be able to avoid those traps. The new framework should protect our soils and give legal certainty across the EU about what we mean by sustainable use of soil. This will be of crucial importance for the many economic operators that use soil. Honourable Members, let me now touch very briefly on a couple of concrete comments and questions that you have mentioned: first of all on funding and financial instruments. Providing financial support for the sustainable use and restoration of soils is very important, and it would help soil users to embrace more sustainable practices that allow soil to perform all its key functions. EU funds to protect soil have existed for many years, including the common agricultural policy, LIFE, Horizon Europe, cohesion policy and the Recovery and Resilience Facility. The Horizon Europe mission on soil health and food will also earmark significant EU budget to raise awareness on the importance of soil, to improve the knowledge base and to develop research solutions for restoring soil health and functions. The overall approach for the funding of soil restoration and soil research will be explained in more detail in the upcoming soil strategy. On the common agricultural policy, it is clear that no soil protection regime could ever work without landowners on board. We need to jointly determine what we consider to be sustainable soil management in the EU to prevent further degradation, and their expertise is, of course, essential. We also need to highlight the medium and long-term perspectives to their practices. The CAP is an indispensable tool to support farmers in embracing soil stewardship. Yet, as concluded by the recent evaluation of the contribution of the CAP to soil protection, the CAP is not being used to its full potential, largely due to the absence of an EU framework that establishes what we want our soils to look like and deliver to all. To conclude, let me recall that in the EU, most soil is privately owned – but it is also a common good that needs to be protected for future generations. Soil protection is a key component in environmental policy, and we can only curb its degradation by acting together. When I say together, I mean by being as inclusive as possible and working with the Member States, with the landowners and land users, with the scientists and local authorities to take better care of the soil and preserve it for future generations. Thank you again for your attention, and I look forward to working very closely with you to reverse soil degradation and to tackle the huge challenges linked to it.