JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE

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Soil conservation services in the European Union
and in the United States of America
L. Montanarella3, R. Arnold1, E.
Micheli2,3 1USDA Natural Resources Conservation
Service, Washington. 2,Department of Soil Science
and Agr. Chemistry, Szent Istvan University, 2100
Godollo, Hungary. 3 European Commission, Joint
Research Centre, Institute for Environment and
Sustainability, TP 280, I-21020 Ispra (VA), Italy.
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Policies for a Sustainable Use of the Soil
Resource

• National
• USA, Germany, United Kingdom, etc.
• Trans-national (regional)
• EU Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection
• Global
• MEAs UNFCCC, CBD, UNCCD

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We think we have learned that seven elements
have been important in the evolution of
the U.S. Soil Conservation Service
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1. Perceived need to conserve and protect soil
and land resources
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2. An organic act to create an agency to
implement mandates of a legislative body
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3. Continuing appropriations to conduct the
business of the organization
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4. Appropriate information about the resources to
be protected and conserved
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5. Information about technologies designed to
conserve and protect resources
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6. A flexible structure to provide technical
services is needed to carry out mandates
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Soil Regions of the European Union Manual of
Procedures of the Georeferenced Soil Database of
Europe (Doc. EUR 18092 EN)
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Cross-border harmonization
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7. Monitoring of resource conditions and
evaluation of agency accountability
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NRCS National Resources Inventory
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Bruxelles, le 16.4.2002 COM(2002) 179
final COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE
COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE ECONOMIC
AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE
REGIONS Towards a Thematic Strategy for Soil
Protection http//europa.eu.int/comm/environment/
agriculture/soil_protection.htm
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Main functions of soils

• Food and other biomass production
• Agriculture
• Storage, filtering, and transformation
• Water protection
• Habitat and gene pool
• Nature protection
• Physical and cultural environment for mankind
• Archeology and cultural heritage
• Source of raw materials
• Peat, Sand, Clay,etc.

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The impact of human activities on soil
Manures and fertilisers
Diffuse input of contaminants as particulates
Acids
Sewage sludge
Pesticides herbicides
Persistent substances
Heavy metals
Gravel extraction
Accumulation/ Contamination
Gradual disappearance of farms
Soil erosion
Release of toxic substances
Compaction
Salinisation
Distruction of humus
Sealing
Acidification
Blocking of soil functions important to the
ecology of the landscape Destruction of soil
Gradual destruction of soils Reduction in soil
fertility
Destruction of soil
Changes in the structure of soils Reduction in
soil fertility
Contamination of soils and ground water with
applied agrochemicals and atmospheric
pollutants Changes in soil composition Adverse
impacts on living organisms in the soil
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Policy relevant features of soils
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Main elements of the proposed strategy

• Soils are multi-functional (horizontal policy
  area)
• Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)
• Water Policy (WFD)
• Waste Policy
• ..
• Knowledge based
• European Soil Information System
• Soil Monitoring Directive

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Threats to soil as identified in COM(2002) 179

• Erosion
• Decline in organic matter
• Soil contamination
• Soil sealing
• Soil compaction
• Decline in soil biodiversity
• Salinisation
• Floods and landslides

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Opinions of EU Institutions

• Council June 2002
• EESC September 2002
• CoR February 2003
• EP May 2003

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Participatory approach
Soil mailbox env-soil_at_cec.eu.int Soil
internet site http//europa.eu.int/comm/environme
nt/ policies Soil Soil electronic library
and discussion site CIRCA (june 03)
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Soil Policy Development Organisational Set-up
Stakeholders meetings Chair DG ENV
ISWG Interservice Working Group TWG Technical
Working Group
Advisory Forum Chair DG ENV
Commission ISWG Chair DG ENV
Technical co-ordination group and secretariat
Chair DG ENV
TWG 1 Monitoring Germany/JRC Co-chair UK
TWG 2 Erosion Spain/Belgium Co-chair EEB
TWG 3 Organic matter France Co-chair IUSS/FEAD
TWG 4 Contamination Austria/NL Co-chair EEA
TWG5 Research W. Blum/ RTD Co-chair ELO
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COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No. 1782/2003 of 29
September 2003
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Brussels, 23.7.2004 COM(2004) 516 final 2004/0175
(COD) . Proposal for a DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN
PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL establishing an
infrastructure for spatial information in the
Community (INSPIRE)
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INSPIRE Implementation
http//eu-geoportal.jrc.it/
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EUROPEAN SOIL BUREAU NETWORK
Soil data
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European Soil Database WRB classification
http//eusoils.jrc.it
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The Pan-European Soil Erosion Risk Assessment -
PESERA - is a process-based and spatially
distributed model to quantify soil erosion by
water and assess its risk across Europe
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Annual soil erosion risk by water (original data
from the PESERA project)
Aggregated results
(aggregated results NUTS3 level)
(mean erosion rates National level)
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European land cover CORINE USGS Eurasia
Avg Annual Temp
Soil DB 11M
Model Spatial processing at 1km resolution
Pedo transfer rules (van Ranst, 1995)
soil type texture
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Organic Carbon Content (30cm)
Within belts of uniform moisture conditions and
comparable vegetation, the average total content
of organic matter in soils increases by 2x to 3x
for each 10 deg C fall in mean temperature.
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Aggregated results
Model output
Organic carbon content () in the surface horizon
(0-30 cm) of soils
National Soil Organic Carbon stocks (0-30cm) in
Gt
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Declining soil organic matter in S. Europe
74 of the land in southern Europe has a surface
soil horizon (0-30cm) that on average contains
less than 2 OC (3.4 OM)
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Soil Organic Carbon and Erosion Spain
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Global soil protection policiesSynergies
between the 3 Rio Conventions
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The way forward

1. Improve our policy relevant soil information.
2. Implement existing legislation and MEAs.
3. Monitor the impact of existing legislation on
   soil protection.
4. Develop (if necessary) specific legislative
   instruments for soil protection.
5. Establish the necessary soil conservation
   services to implement the new soil protection
   legislation.

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National soil surveys
Soil inventories
Soil monitoring
SPACE
TIME
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From the Global to the Local ScaleEUSIS - A
nested soil information system for Europe
EUROPEAN SOIL BUREAU NETWORK
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Streamlining the flow of policy relevant soil
information in Europe
Georeferenced Soil Database for Europe
Reporting policy relevant soil data aggregated by
administrative units
Soil Mapping Unit (Soilscape)
Normalised Statistical Unit
ACCESS HARMONISATION REPORTING
Member States JRC
EEA
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Conclusions

• Very different historical developments have
  determined the creation of different approaches
  to soil protection between USA and the EU.
• The strong local dimension of soil protection
  requires to develop strategies adapted to the
  diversity of soils as well as to the diversity of
  the cultural and historical background.