[MEDISS] Europe is calling: have your say on soil health!
On numerous occasions, MEDISS partners have affirmed the crucial issue of soil health, and its relevance for food, nature, and our economy. Soils deserve the same level of protection as water, air, or the marine environment. MEDISS follows with interest the development of European and national policies on this issue, notably the proposed Soil Health Law.
Why should everyone care about this issue? Because soil is a finite and non-renewable natural resource and 60-70% of soil ecosystems in the EU are suffering from continuing degradation. A few examples:
- Europe currently exceeds its safe operating space for the nitrogen and phosphorous cycles by factors of 3.3 and 2.0 each.
- Salinization affects 3.8 million ha in the EU, with severe soil salinity along the coastlines, particularly in the Mediterranean.
- The risk of desertification is increasing across the EU and is affecting agricultural production.
Soil degradation, and its drivers and impacts, know no borders. Soils play a major role in the nutrient, carbon and water cycles, and these processes are not constrained by physical and political borders
The Green Deal has as one of its crucial points the updating of the EU Soil Strategy (the current one dates back to 2006) to tackle soil and land degradation in a global approach and to fulfill EU and international commitments on the neutrality of land degradation (see UN Sustainable Development Goal 15.3).
The new EU Soil Strategy 2030, adopted in 2021, sets the vision to have all soils in a healthy condition by 2050 and to safeguard soil's protection, sustainable use, and restoration with a sound legal framework. It proposes a mix of voluntary and legislative actions, and it states that the Commission will present a new legislative proposal on soil health by 2023 to help achieve the vision and goals of the strategy.
The proposed Soil Health Act responds to requests from the European Parliament and the European Committee of the Regions to develop a comprehensive European legal framework for soil protection and to provide this valuable natural resource with the same level of protection as water and air. The Soil Health Act will be complementary to the legislative proposal for the EU objectives of restoring degraded ecosystems. In particular, those showing great potential for carbon capture and storage and preventing and reducing the impact of natural disasters.
The Soil Health Law proposal aims to:
- specify the conditions for a healthy soil
- determine options for monitoring soil and
- layout rules conducive to sustainable soil use and restoration.
The Commission wants to ensure that the general public interest across the EU emerges in the impact assessment and the proposal for a Soil Health Law by collecting feedback, ideas, information, and opinions. The Commission intends to consult the wider public and stakeholders with more in-depth knowledge.
The consultation is open to all to provide input to help the Commission prepare its initiative on soil and land protection, sustainable management, and restoration, as described in the EU Soil Strategy for 2030. The stakeholder's definition includes:
- National, regional and local authorities (environmental, climate, spatial planning, health, transport and mobility, economic and agricultural domains);
- European, international and multilateral organizations;
- Relevant economic operators (land owners and users, environmental consultants, industry, farmers, foresters, etc.);
- Related interest associations, social partners, consumer and youth organizations, NGOs, civil society, research, and academic institutions, think tanks, and the EU public.
The public consultation asks for opinions of individual citizens and organizations on the need for EU action on soil, causes of soil degradation, contaminated sites, and soils, and possibly legal obligations requiring the Member States to improve soil health and to stop net “land take” (loss of natural or agricultural land to urbanization or infrastructure).
Furthermore, the consultation aims to seek which parameters should be considered for soil health and at what level and to explore the relationship with the EU Green Deal target to reduce nutrient losses by 50% by 2030.
Join in! Have your say on soil health!