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"International and EU Soil Protection Strategies:Status and future Perspectives"

Luca MontanarellaEuropean Commission

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Policies for a Sustainable Use of the Soil Resource

• National – USA, Germany, United Kingdom, etc….

• Trans-national (regional)– Alpine Convention– Euro-Mediterranean Partnership– EU Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection

• Global– UNFCCC– CBD– UNCCD

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Soil protection policies are established when there is a perceived threat by the affected population:

Do we have a soil degradation problem?

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1935 US “Dustbowl”

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US Soil Conservation Act 1935

The ‘Dust bowl’Dorothea Lange - Migrant Mother (1936)

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US Soil Conservation Act 1935

• Recognition of the problem• Establishment of the US Soil Conservation Service• Participatory approach with strong local partnership

(Soil Conservation Districts)• Establishment of technical guidelines• Implementation of soil conservation measures• Monitoring of results

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US-NRCS National Resources Inventory

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National Soil Protection Policies in Europe (partial list)

• 1907 Establishment of the Icelandic Soil Conservation Service• 1987 Dutch Soil Protection Act• 1989 Italian Soil Protection Act• 1992 Czechoslovakian Soil Protection Act• 1993 French National Soil Remediation and Clean-up Policy• 1997 Hungarian National Environmental Programme• 1998 Federal German Soil Protection Act• 2004 Soil Action Plan of England and Wales• ………………………..

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(Veenman, 2006)

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European initiatives from 1952 to 2006

• 1952 First meeting of European Soil Survey Organizations, Ghent, Belgium• 1955 Working Party on Soil Classification and Survey, FAO• 1959 first draft Soil Map of Europe (1:2,500,000 scale)• 1972 European Soil Charter adopted by Council of Europe• 1985 Soil Map at 1:1,000,000 scale of the European Communities published by the European Commission• 1986 Digital version of the EC Soil Map• 1994 creation of the Soil Information Focal Point (SIFP) at JRC• 1996 creation of the European Soil Bureau at the JRC• 1998 Bled Protocol on Soil Protection signed within the Alpine Convention• 1998 Workshop “Soil Protection Policies within the EU”, Bonn, Germany• 1999 First European Soil Forum, Berlin, Germany• 2001 Workshop “The Support of Soil Science Research to the European Sustainable Development”, Uppsala, Sweden• 2001 Second European Soil Forum, Napoli, Italy• 2002 6th Environment Action Programme includes a strategy for soil protection• 2002 Communication “Towards a Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection”, COM (2002) 179• 2003 Revised European Charter for the Protection and Sustainable Management of Soil adopted by Council of Europe• 2004 Reports from Technical Working Groups Established under the Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection,

EUR 21319• 2004 VitalSoil Conference by Dutch Presidency, Scheveningen, The Netherlands• 2005 Extended stakeholder consultation on the Soil Strategy• 2006 Soil Thematic Strategy adopted by the European Commission

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European Soil Database: WRB classification

http://eusoils.jrc.it

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EU Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection adopted by the European Commission on the 22nd of September 2006

• COMMUNICATION COM(2006) 231 on the Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection• DIRECTIVE COM(2006) 232 establishing a framework for the protection of soil and

amending Directive 2004/35/EC• IMPACT ASSESSMENT SEC(2006) 620 of the Thematic Strategy for Soil

Protection

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/soil/index.htm

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US Senate Resolution 2008

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EC – USDA collaboration agreement 2008

• This Collaboration Agreement will, in particular, have the following objectives:

a) to work cooperatively in the development of methodologies relating to Digital Soil Mapping (DSM) that can benefit both programs;

b) to improve the co-ordination and effectiveness of co-operation efforts between the US and the European Commission in the field of soil quality evaluation and soil conservation;

c) to cooperate fully in the development of the GlobalSoilMap.net project; d) to promote mutual interest and co-operation in understanding and resolving soil quality

and conservation issues, in particular related to – Methodologies for delineation of risk zones of soil degradation processes– Soil quality monitoring– Soil water regime monitoring and applications– Soil organic carbon management (based on long term field experiments)– Nitrogen management and environmental protection– Development of digital soil mapping techniques;

e) to deepen the understanding of the scientific, economic and social issues relating to the normal and sustainable functions of soils.

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Global Soil Protection Legal Frameworks

• 1982 World Soil Charter, FAO/UNEP• 1994 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

(UNFCCC)• 1995 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)• 1996 United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification

(UNCCD)– Annex IV (Mediterranean countries)– Annex V (Central and Eastern European countries)

• 1998 Draft Soil Convention, Tutzing Initiative• 2000 IUCN World Conservation Congress Resolution on Soils• 2005 Iceland Declaration on the Conservation and Sustainable Use

of Global Soil Resources• 2006 Proposal by ISRIC of the establishment of a World Soil

Council

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Global soil protection policies: Synergies between the 3 Rio Conventions

SOIL PROTECTION

UNCCD

CBD

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Synergies among the Rio Conventions

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005. Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Desertification Synthesis. World Resources Institute, Washington, DC.

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Wheat prices have recently increased to reach record levels in August 2007 (+78% vs. August 2006) …

Development of wheat prices in the EU and on world markets (EUR/t).

90

110

130

150

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Jan-

00Ap

r-00

Jul-0

0Oct-

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EUR/t

soft wheat (Rouen EUR/t)hard red winter (fob Gulf)

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OECD estimates of international prices for agricultural commodities (wheat, maize, Vegetable oils). (source: OECD, GreenWeek, Brussels, 2007)

Future agricultural commodities prices expected to stay high

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World population: 1750 – 2050

0.0

3.0

6.0

9.0

12.0

1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000 2050

Tota

l pop

ulat

ion

(bill

ions

)

00.10.20.30.40.50.60.70.80.9

Ann

ual i

ncre

men

ts (b

illio

ns)

Further growth, but at drastically declining rates

Source: UN, 2003

Population growth

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Fuel or food?

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Global Soil Resources are limited

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http://www.iiasa.ac.at/Research/LUC/luc07/External-World-soil-database/HTML/index.html

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Human Impact in EuropeRapid urbanization of the rural population

95

100

105

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115

1990 1995 2000

1990 = 100

Built-up area

Population

EU-15

ACEU15

Group

60.00 70.00 80.00 90.00

% Urban population

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15.00

20.00

% B

uilt-

up a

rea

BG

CZ

LVLT

PL

RO

SK

MT

AT

BE

DK

FI

FR

DE

GR

LU

NL

ES

UK

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Major Challenge for Future of the Planet Earth

Source: 3DNWorld web-site

How to move towards a sustainable global system ?6,7 billion people, 1000 nations, 200 countries

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Thank you for your interest!

“Unity in diversity”