European Soil Data Centre: A spatial data infrastructure for research and policy making in Europe

Panos Panagos & Marc Van LiedekerkePanos.panagos@jrc.ec.europa.eu

Group of Four(4)

• Thematic Centre for soil related data in Europe.

• ESDAC as one centre in the system of European Data Centers for the Environment, decided by “the group of four (Go4)” (DG ENV, ESTAT, JRC, EEA)

DG ENV

Data requirements

EEA

Climate Change

Water

Air

Land use

Biodiversity

JRC

Soil

Forest

EUROSTAT

Waste

Natural resources

IPP

European Soil data Center (ESDAC)

The single focal point for soil information, data and expertise at European level; it integrates and hosts soil data from EU Member States and neighbouring countries. Its information is of relevance to EU policies and stakeholders.

The single focal point for soil information, data and expertise

at European level

Its information is of relevance to EU policies and

stakeholders

ESDAC covers the complete data production cycle, from

raw data collection to the final integrated assessment of

European soil resources.

ESDAC allows linking to data and information from National

providers, fully complying with the INSPIRE principle

(interoperability)

ESDAC is as “open” as legally possible, meaning that if data

and information resident in the ESDAC can legally be

published, the system will do.

European Soil data Center (ESDAC)

Information Providers

ESDAC Catalogue of available resources

Metadata system that describes and points to various soil resource

types: datasets, services/applications, documents, events, projects and external links

ESDAC Map Viewer

Navigate key soil data for Europe

European Soil Portal

The place where all ESDAC resources are located. The current

data and information service makes available many types of products:

- Data, documents, data-based applications and scanned maps.

- Soil projects(FP6-FP7), documentation on the EU soil threats,

- Awareness Raising activities and Events-Presentations

ESDAC Components

Recent developments with Geo-Network

Under update……..

ESDAC Catalogue

ESDAC offers

more than 85 Layers interoperable with other information

ESDAC Web Mapping Services

ESDAC User Base (Mailing List) > 5,000 Members

Monthly Newsletter: Inform the Soil Communities about the latest news in Soil

Network of Experts European Soil Partnership (ESP), European Soil Bureau Network, EIONET

HelpDesk: Support is important and ESDAC provides Helpdesk (more than 800 Requests on helpdesk in 2013)

IT Support: Long Term Mandate [Group of 4, JRC Informatics (Software/Hardware) infrastructure]

ESDAC Tools

Download data for free (no costs) by accepting the license agreement

Simple process: Enter the User Details in a Web form

Name, Organisation, E-mail, Country of Origin, purpose for which the data will be used.

ESDAC Authorisation

ESDAC helpdesk authorises the user request

ESDAC Data Log

Useful information/feedback both for ESDAC and for Project Managers

Data Authentication &

Control Mechanism

(King et al., 1994)

1:1M European Soil Database

Data distribution

26 datasets are delivered through the ESDAC authentication & control system

2013: 2,053 data licenses (32% increase compared to 2012)

> 3,000 data licenses in 2014

Intended Use %

Research 67.6%

Policy 8.3%

Assessment - Study 13.2%

Education 3.3%

Education & Research 2.5%

Other 5.1%

Panagos et al, (2012) Land Use Policy Journal

Who are the users of ESDAC Data?

Data request from Universities and Research:79%

Private Companies: 10%

Public Administration (EU Commission, Ministries…): 7.7%

Other includes environmental associations, farmers, NGOs:3.5%

Panagos et al, (2012) Land Use Policy Journal

Geographical distribution

of data requests

Global Impact: ESDAC has served user data requests from > 120 countries

18% of requests come from outside of the European Union

Soil Biodiversity loss

Sealing

Erosion

Decline of Soil Organic Matter

Salinization Compaction

Landslides

Contamination

Soil Threats

Soil Thematic Strategy

Soil Biodiversity loss

Sealing

Erosion

Decline of Soil Organic Matter

Salinization Compaction

Landslides

Contamination

Available Data

ESDAC Contribution

(Toth et al., 2013; Panagos et al., 2013)

LUCAS topsoil (Land Use / Land Cover)

Under review

(to be available soon….)

(Ballabio et al., 2014)

LUCAS Derived

Products

EuDASM: European digital archive on soil maps

Map collection: More than 6,000 maps from 141 countrieshave been captured and are freely available to users through a user-friendly web-based interface.

Preserving important soil data even from 1920’s.

Metadata Available

One of the 3 largest Map catalogues (FAO, EuDASM, ISRIC…)

Continent Maps with

country

coverage

Maps with

continent

coverage

Africa 2,010 151

Asia 961 67

Latin America & Caribbean

Islands

1,074 66

Europe 1,206 96

North America 305 4

Total 5,666 384

Survey about ESDAC

Ask the users Feedback with an online survey with 4 questions plus Comments/Suggestions

Survey about ESDAC

Have you published anything (article, poster, report) that makes reference to the requested data (or do you plan to publish anything)?

24% of the users replied positively

providing references.

Suggestions/ Comments?

• Data in higher resolution

• More available interoperable services

• Please Continue this Excellent Service!!!

• …………………………………..

Provides Policy Relevant Soil Data and Information to Commission Services and External Customers

• Main Policy Areas:• 6th Environmental Action Program (EU Soil Thematic

Strategy)• Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)• Climate Change Policy (Post-Kyoto debate, LULUCF)• Energy Policy (Renewable Energies Directive, Biofuel)• Biodiversity (Nature) Protection Policy (EU Biodiversity

Strategy)• Water Protection Policy (Water Framework Directive,

Groundwater Directive)• Forest Protection Policy (Forest FOCUS, ICP Forest)• Regional Policies (INTERREG)• Food Safety (PPR Registration, EFSA)• Food Security (FAO)• Development Policy (ACP-Observatory, Africa Atlas)• Waste Policy (Biowaste Directive, Sewage Sludge Directive)• ……………..etc.

ESDAC and policy making

Examples

Common Agricultural Policy (CAP): Agro-environmental policies and Soil Conservation policies request ESDAC data such as: Soil Erosion rates, Organic carbon, soil compaction, pH, diffuse contamination…... ESDAC provides assessment of soil quality problems and delineation of risk areas. Definition of Less Favourable Areas (LFA).

Climate Change policies: Soil organic carbon data requested by modellers. Soil contains about twice Carbon as above ground vegetation. EU-27 is estimated to 75 Billion Tones of Carbon.

Renewable Energies (Biofuel): Many concerns about the how biofuel production may lead to inappropriate land management. ESDAC Data are used in Global Bioenergy Partnership(GBEP) and in various soil conservation projects.

Examples (2)

Protection of EU consumers and food security: models estimating exposure of pesticides to soil organisms in collaboration with European Food Agency.

Land Take (Soil Sealing) and food security: During the period 1990-2006: a) at least 275 hectares of soil are lost per day amounting to 1,000 km2/year b) the lost Potential Agricultural Production Capability is estimated around 6.1 Million tons of wheat in 19 EU Member States

Biodiversity: The major contribution of soil biodiversity Atlas in safeguarding soil biodiversity and raising awareness.

Research and development (RTD) policies: FP6 and FP7 project results available in the European Soil Portal (ENVASSO, RamSoil, SoilTrEC, Digisoil, iSoil, eSoter, EcoFinders, Safeland). Significant number of EU research projects use the ESDAC data: GHG-Europe, MOVE, CLIMB, LIFE+, VOLANTE, CLIMIT…