Elsevier

Land Use Policy

Volume 82, March 2019, Pages 763-780
Land Use Policy

Policy instruments for soil protection among the EU member states: A comparative analysis

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2019.01.017Get rights and content

Abstract

Many factors threaten European Soils, and currently, all the Member States (MS) are introducing many types of soil protection measures. Erosion, pollution, sealing and decline of the organic matter are just some of the threats that affect one of the primary non-removable resources of the planet. Soils play a vital role in the biodiversity and are the provider of numerous Ecosystem Services that support human life on Earth.

Following the withdrawal of the Soil Framework Directive proposal by the European Commission, we investigate how the different MS of the European Union (EU) address sustainable soil management under the pressures of different threats.

The methodology used is based on a gap analysis applied to the instruments and/or policies adopted by the MS to contrast the various threats according to their specific level of intensity. The study presents for the first time a systematic review of the current EU policies covering all the regulatory instruments, the economic instruments, the information tools, the monitoring systems, and the research and innovation activities.

The comparative analysis of the different approaches adopted by MS reveals the absence of a common EU strategy to address soil protection and the inefficacy of the subsidiary principle in the sustainable management of soil resources especially in the view of addressing the Sustainable Development Goals achieving the targets by 2030.

Results show how the lack of a Soil Framework Directive has weakened the possibility to have strong coordination among the MS for soil protection. Each Country is adopting an autonomous legislative framework which reveals a huge dis-homogeneity and un-coherences among approaches.

Introduction

Soils are major providers of crucial Ecosystem Services (ES) since they contain one-quarter to one-third of all living organisms on the planet. Only around 1% of all soil microorganisms have been classified, compared to 80% of plants (Jeffery et al., 2010). Soil organisms contribute to a wide range of services essential to the sustainable functioning of all ecosystems (also called soil functions) (Blum, 2005; Commission of The European Communities, 1990); they act as the primary driving agents for nutrient cycling, water purification, regulating the dynamics of soil organic matter and structure, soil carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions (Breure et al., 2012). Moreover, soils are the foundation of all terrestrial ecosystems and the agricultural and forestry provisioning services, as well as the structural medium for supporting the Earth's biosphere, regulating the ecosystem functions for human’s health.

Soils are commonly considered as a non-renewable resource, due to their extremely slow rate of formation and their resilience, when subject to some form of degradation. The regeneration process of soil is complex. It occurs rarely and requires a considerable amount of time and energy: For example, to restore degraded soil to its original condition takes ca. 500 years to gain just 2.5 cm of surface crust (Pimentel et al., 2010). Soil degradation is defined as the loss of its quality and the intrinsic characteristics which are necessary to provide specific functions (Blum, 2008). The process of degradation is considered a threat which can be caused by external natural events, such as storms or hurricanes, that can have an impact on the stability of the soil leading to landslides or flooding; or as a result of anthropogenic activities such as intensive and unsustainable agriculture that alters the levels of nutrients and pollution in the soil. Normally, anthropogenic processes are the main causes of soil degradation (Blum, 2002). Nevertheless, such alterations are often indirectly caused by climate change, such as intense rainfall events, which lead to erosion, landslides or flooding, also considered as anthropogenic processes.

Despite awareness of the human pressures on European (EU) soils and the related negative consequences to the environment and human well-being, there is currently no common EU legislation on soil protection. In recent years, various attempts have been initiated at EU level on the subject of soil protection, starting with the EU Communication COM (2002)179 “Towards a Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection” which identified the different soil threats relevant to the EU area, such as erosion, decline in organic matter, contamination, sealing, compaction, loss of biodiversity, salinization and floods and landslides. The last two threats were subsequently addressed by a specific Directive on flood risk management prevention (2007/60/EC) and therefore not included in the final EU soil strategy.

The proposal of a Soil Framework Directive, as a legally binding component of the EU Soil Thematic Strategy, was endorsed by the EU Parliament in 2007 but blocked by a minority of Member States (MS) (Germany, France, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Austria) and therefore not adopted.

The reasons for the opposition include the subsidiarity and proportionality principles, the estimated costs, the administrative burden, and existing national legislation on soil that which was not considered as aligned with the incoming proposal (Glæsner et al., 2014).

In 2014, the European Commission (EC) decided to withdraw its legislative proposal and looked at an alternative strategy which aimed at a better integration of soil degradation issues into existing and forthcoming EU legislation. The Commission remains committed to the objective of soil protection, and will examine options as to how best to achieve this (European Commission, 2014). Various studies and technical reports keep stressing that around 10–20% of drylands and 24% of productive lands are degraded on a global scale (ELD Initiative, 2013). “This situation suggests that all efforts made to integrate soils in various EU policies and through national legislations are still insufficient to reduce soil degradation. It calls for a common reflection which we would like to engage with MS” (European Commission, 2015).

In addition to this formal evidence, the soil issue gained popularity due to the International Year of Soils 2015 and by the promotional role of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in hosting the Global Soil Partnership (GSP). The FAO has acted in the recent years through publications, the promotion of Policies and Governance, the dissemination of scientific results and the organization of awareness raising initiatives on Soil, with an online campaign of bulletins and reports uploaded on the FAO Soils Portal (FAO - Food And Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2013). Soil has also been at the centre of academic and scientific debates involving local communities, promoting citizen's initiatives and requesting an EU legislative framework for protection and management. Of particular importance has been the debate around the importance of soils in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in 2030 (Keesstra et al., 2016). These are to be achieved by fully implementing sustainable soil management as recommended by FAO in the World Soil Charter (FAO, 2015) and following the Voluntary Guidelines for Sustainable Soil Management (FAO, 2016). The requirement for soil legislation promoting sustainable soil management is still one of the topics under discussion among policymakers at different government levels and needs to deliver binding legislation on soil protection.

There has recently also been a proliferation of research projects, studies and initiatives focused on the importance of soil. The aim has been to spread awareness on the importance of soil and on the effects of its depletion and degradation caused by mismanagement, including the role it plays in the provision of ES for nature protection and human well-being i (e.g., Recare - preventing and remediating degradation of Soils in Europe through Land Care, LANDMARK2020, SOILCARE - Soilcare for profitable and sustainable crop production in Europe and MAES - Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services). These projects have strongly encouraged the assessment of soil functions across the EU introducing decision-support tools, new policy frameworks and sustainable management of soils and land use.

Even if soil’s value is increasingly recognized, there is no common EU agreement on the best practices to adopt for tackling soil threats and improving ES provision. The lack of a common EU framework has motivated MS to act independently, adopting and implementing sectoral policies and strategies.

This paper aims to investigate how the different EU MS address the threats posed to soil in the absence of an EU Soil Framework Directive. The data and the considerations that follow are based on documental research of available information at EU and MS level through a “Gap analysis”. The Gap analysis focuses on the instruments and/or policies adopted by MS, according to the severity of soil threats that affect soil functions and quality. The results of this analysis are presented for each MS, providing a summary of the adopted measures to limit the effects of the threats according to their level of severity. The measures concern the regulatory instruments, economic instruments, information tools, monitoring systems and research and innovation activities. They are subsequently divided into sub-categories, highlighting the existence of some legislative gaps that could be considered in future policy initiatives. The analysis outlines the comparative approaches adopted by MS and aims to shed lights on the limits of an uncoordinated approach taken by EU MS to address soil protection and the efficacy of the principle of subsidiarity in the management of soils.

Section snippets

Assessment of the European Union soil threats

The analysis is based on the data and information collected by the existing collaborative web platform (Soil Wiki), which was employed by the EC to set out a first report entitled “European Inventory and Assessment of Soil Protection Policy Instruments in the European MS”. This led to a second communication on the "Updated Inventory and Assessment of Soil Protection Policy Instruments in European MS", edited in February 2017 by the Ecologic Institute (Berlin) in collaboration with the Institute

Policy instruments in the European member states

This section summarises the policies, instruments, and strategies adopted by the MS for soil protection from the threats that affect the national soil resources with varying degrees of intensity.

The policy analysis explores whether a binding legal framework at EU level is now necessary. The analysis identifies gaps, overlaps or lack of coherence among different existing soil related policies.

Data are reported by MS and presented by a bar graph corresponding to the degree of the intensity of

Policy highlights

As stated in the introduction, the lack of an EU Soil Framework Directive is weakening the possibility of straightforward coordination on strong soil regulation among MS.

The situation among the different MS is contrasted with the shared assumption that soil is a common, limited resource, all over the world. Even if its morphogenetic characteristics vary its management should be unified, promoting safer and healthier conditions for all European citizens. The fact that each MS is acting without

Conclusion

There is extensive evidence of severe ongoing soil degradation processes in all EU MS. The type of degradation varies greatly depending on the pedo-climatic as well as the socio-economic situation of each of the countries concerned. Specific threats to soil functions are typical of certain areas of Europe, like droughts and desertification in the Mediterranean countries, or peatland drainage and degradation in Northern and Scandinavian countries. Soils in Europe are generally under threat and,

Declaration of interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

This project (LANDSUPPORT) has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 774234.

Acknowledgements

This work is the result of a research activity promoted by the Italian Research Centre on Land Take (CRCS – Centro di Ricerca sui Consumi di Suolo) in collaboration with the Unit D.3 – Sustainable Resources, Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. Primary results were presented on July 5th, 2017 for the National report of Land Take in Italy edit by CRCS.

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