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climate change, these pressures lead todegradation processes such as erosion,contamination, loss of organic matter, shallowlandsliding and, in extreme cases, a completeloss of the resource.

Exacerbating factors include limited policydevelopment (reflecting the relatively slowrate of change in soil conditions compared topolicy and political cycles), a lack of awarenessin increasingly urban societies of the importantsocietal services and resilience provided bysoil, and inequalities in the provision of publicservices as a result of land ownership.

Soil condition underpins food security, greengrowth, bioeconomies and abovegroundbiodiversity; it regulates climate, the hydrologicaland nutrient cycles, while mitigating climatechange. Soils provide resilience against floodsand droughts, buffer the effects of pollutantsand preserve cultural heritage. Healthy,functional soils underpin several targets ofthe Sustainable Development Goals.

Pressures on this finite, non-renewableresource, due to competition for land orinappropriate land management choices,severely impact soil functions. Amplified by

Image: woodleywonderworks

The importance of soil

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• The NC-SOIL project supports the Land Useand Coverage Area Frame Survey (LUCAS)Programme, the Commission’s principalmechanism for assessing the impacts ofland-focused policies on soil condition and,indirectly, on the economic, environmentaland cultural functions supported by soils.LUCAS Soil is used as a mechanism to assessthe impact of the CAP, in the context ofUNFCCC COP21 where soil is now considereda significant mitigation or adaptation factor,to assess the impact of land use on thequality and supply of terrestrial ecosystemservices and as inputs to the EU statisticalportfolio.

Overall, the JRC’s NC-SOIL project entails thedevelopment of datasets, models andindicators that describe key soil functions,together with the extent and impact ofdegradation processes, for scenarios of howsoil functions respond to the implementationand development of land management practicesdriven by EU policies. This data-centricapproach is supplemented by policy-relevantbest practice guidelines for soil managementand novel dissemination approaches thatincrease societal awareness of the value of soils.

For additional information, please contactarwyn.jones@ec.europa.eu

The European Union (EU) is committed to soilprotection through the its Soil Thematic Strategy(EUSTS – COM(2006) 231, COM(2012) 46) andthe 7th Environment Action Programme.

Knowledge of the condition of, and changesto, soil functions and associated ecosystemservices is critical to a range of EU policies(e.g. agriculture, environmental protection,sustainable development, climate, bio-economy,international development).

At the Joint Research Centre, the NaturalCapital Soil (NC-SOIL) project creates value-added knowledge on the complex interplaybetween soil and land management.

• The Work Package on “Securing soil asnatural capital “directly supports soil issuesin environmentally focused policies such asthe 7th Environment Action Programme,(Eurostat) indicators on land use change, theEU Biodiversity Strategy, several SustainableDevelopment Goals (in particular those witha strong land component), and the fourcentral pillars of the EU Soil Thematic Strategy(EUSTS), namely awareness raising, research,integration into other policy areas, andlegislation.

• The Work Package on “Soil for ClimateChange “addresses the role of soil in climatechange policies such as the 2030 Climateand Energy Framework and those based onthe Paris Agreement.

• The Work Package on “Soil: the foundationof agriculture” addresses issues associatedwith agricultural policies and instruments,and contributes to the review and post-2020design of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

The European Union’scommitment

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Results recently published inNature Communications1

showed that between 2001 and2012, over 35 billion tonnes ofsoil were displaced annuallydue to rainfall running acrossthe land surface.

51 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-02142-7

displaced annually due to rainfall runningacross the land surface. The main driver ofthis huge loss of soil, which increased by 2.5%between 2000 and 2012, is the conversion offorests to agricultural land.

The accompanying map of global soil erosionin 2012 shows that this process does not occurevenly. While 85% of the Earth’s land surfaceis relatively free of erosion, around 9% ofland surfaces experience moderate to high soilerosion. On 7.5 million km2 erosion exceedsthe generic tolerable soil erosion threshold.

The largest and most intensively erodedregions are in China (0.47 million km2, 6.3%of the country’s land area), Brazil (4.6% thecountry’s land area) and equatorial Africa(some 0.26 million km2).

The greatest increase in soil loss is estimatedfor sub-Saharan Africa, South America andSoutheast Asia. South America surpassesAfrica with an estimated increase in soil erosionof over 10% in 2012. This seems to be drivenmostly by the large expansion of croplandareas in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia and Peru.During the same period, soil erosion in theequatorial countries of Africa increased by 8%.

Soil erosion has financial implications andshould be considered as a loss of naturalcapital which can result in increased burdenson the soils of other countries. Erosion can bereduced by the adoption of soil conservationpractices in agriculture. The study estimatesthat, if applied correctly, specific landmanagement practices could save over abillion tonnes of soil per year. Conservationagriculture currently covers about 15.3% ofthe observed cropland globally, reducing soilerosion by an estimated 7%.

For additional information, please contactpanos.panagos@ec.europa.eu

Soil is an essential resource that supportsmany societal and environmental needs.Changes in land use can put pressures on soil.If left unchecked, these can lead to a loss ofthis precious resource. A recent study carriedout by a group of researchers from theUniversity of Basel, the European Commission’sJoint Research Centre and the Centre forEcology & Hydrology in the UK, haveundertaken the most detailed globalassessment ever of soil erosion dynamics.

The study developed a high-resolution versionof the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equationmodel, with a cell size of around 250m × 250m,to incorporate data on land use, the extent ofdifferent types of croplands and the effects ofdifferent regional cropping systems. These arecoupled with assessments of rainfall erosivitydynamics and soil characteristics.

Results recently published in NatureCommunications1 showed that between 2001and 2012, over 35 billion tonnes of soil were

How much soil is washed away?

Global soil erosion

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Soil is increasinglyrecognised for its role inregulating climate eitheras a result of its ability tostore organic carbon, thathas been taken out of theatmosphere throughphotosynthesis, or as asource of greenhousegases such as nitrous oxideor methane.

7

Getting a better understandingof nitrous oxide emissions fromthe agricultural soils of the EU

Soil is increasingly recognised for its role inregulating climate either because of its abilityto store organic carbon, that has been takenout of the atmosphere through photosynthesis,or as a source of greenhouse gases.

The element nitrogen (N) is required byfarmers to sustain plant productivity that canthen be harvested for food, fuel and fibre.Nitrogen exists in several forms in soil. Theserange from inorganic and organic nitrogencompounds, ammonium (NH4+) ions andnitrate (NO3-) ions. Under natural conditions,these substances are constantly transformedin a process known as the Nitrogen Cycle,which contains several routes by whichnitrogen can be lost from the soil. The mostrecognised is the leaching of nitrates as waterpercolates through the soil, which can lead towater quality issues in rivers and lakes. Othermechanisms are processes known asnitrification/denitrification where, duringintermediate reactions, nitrogen is released asa gas, namely nitrous oxide (N2O) – a majorgreenhouse gas. A big driver of N2O emissionsis the level of nitrogen in the soil, which inagricultural areas, can be augmented by theapplication of synthetic and organic fertilisers.

To understand the impact of land managementon such emissions, the JRC has developed ahighly complex modelling platform to assessN2O fluxes from the soils of the EU. TheDayCent biogeochemistry model was run onsoil from more than 11 000 locations that hadbeen denoted as being under agricultural useby the European Union Statistical Office’s LandUse and Coverage Area Frame Survey (LUCAS).

The results published in PLOS One2 showedthat current N2O emissions from soil for theLUCAS points were around 2.27 kg N perhectare per year. When the modelled resultswere upscaled to the EU level, direct soilemissions of N2O are in the range of 171-195 Tgper year of CO2equivalent or 0.95 Mg per yearof CO2equivalent per hectare (CO2equivalentis a term for describing different greenhousegases in a common unit which signifies theamount of CO2 which would have theequivalent global warming impact).

If information on management practiceswould be made available and model biasfurther reduced by N2O flux measurement atrepresentative LUCAS points, the combinationof the land use/soil survey with a well-calibratedbiogeochemistry model may become a referencetool to support agricultural, environmentaland climate policies.

For additional information, please contactemanuele.lugato@ec.europa.eu

2 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0176111

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Soil is a non-renewableresource that requiresconstant monitoring toprevent its degradationand promote itssustainable management.

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Soil is a non-renewable resource that requiresconstant monitoring to prevent its degradationand promote its sustainable management.Every three years, the Statistical Office of theEuropean Union (Eurostat) undertakes aregular survey of land use, land cover andchanges over time across the European Union(EU). This programme is known as the LandUse and Coverage Area Frame Survey (LUCAS).Since 2009, a topsoil (0-20 cm) assessment,referred to as LUCAS Soil, has been includedfor around 22 000 locations, where the mainphysico-chemical properties of soil (texture,pH, organic carbon, nutrient concentrationsand cation exchange capacity) have beenmeasured3. Data from 2009 and 2012, togetherwith derived outputs in the form of more than20 maps, are available for free from theEuropean Soil Data Centre website4. Samplescollected during 2015 are currently beinganalysed, and data will be available in late 2018.

A new sampling programme will be undertakenin 2018, which will include new measurements.A fascinating new development will be anattempt to measure soil biodiversity throughDNA metabarcoding to identify bacteria andarchaea, fungi and eukaryotes other thanfungi. In general, living organisms occupyecotopes with specific features in terms ofchemical and physical properties, for whichthey are adapted; likewise, different soilbiological communities will tend to occupyspecific ecotopes (also known as pedotopes)within the soil defined by soil properties,climate and vegetation cover. Thus, thesampling scheme should aim to capture therange of values of the soil and environmentalfeatures. Specific samples will be collectedfrom 1 000 of the 26 014 total soil data pointsthat are planned for 2018.

The overall aim is to develop a standardindicator for the EU that represents the rangeof organisms living in the soil, their spatialdistribution and how they might be related toenvironmental features. The decision toinclude the assessment of soil biota in futureLUCAS surveys resulted from the increasinglyrecognised importance of soil organisms in theprovision of several soil-related ecosystemservices, from nutrient cycle regulation to soilerosion control. The biodiversity module ofLUCAS Soil aims to cover a broad spectrum ofsoil-living organisms, from microorganisms tomacrofauna. Furthermore, the methodologywas established by considering other projectswith similar research objectives, such ascontinental assessment of soil biodiversitydistribution in Australia and Africa.

For additional information, please contactoihane.fernandes-ugalde@ec.europa.eu oralberto.orgiazzi@ec.europa.eu

3 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ejss.12499/full4 ESDAC https://esdac.jrc.ec.europa.eu/

Measuring life in soil with LUCAS

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European Soil Data Centre

At the core of the soil activities of the JRC isthe European Soil Data Centre, the primary soilknowledge hub for EU institutions.

Policymakers require easy access to soil dataand information of various types and scales toassess the state of soils at the European level.To satisfy this need, the European Commissionand the European Environment Agency (EEA)established the European Soil Data Centre(ESDAC), an online platform that is hosted atthe European Commission's Joint ResearchCentre in Ispra, Italy.

ESDAC is the thematic centre for soil-relateddata for Europe. It is one of ten environmentaldata centres that have been established insupport of environmental policy development,implementation and monitoring. Its objectiveis to host relevant soil data and information atthe European level. The establishment and theevaluation of harmonised databases shouldfacilitate improved soil protection measures.

ESDAC consists of two main elements: acatalogue of soil resources and a map viewerthat displays soil data.

• The catalogue of soil resources is alightweight metadata system that describesand directs to various soil resource types:datasets, services and applications, documents,events, projects and external links. Themajority of the content is the result of JRC in-house research and collaborations withexternal organisations through EU-fundedresearch programmes (e.g. European SoilBureau Network, FP7, H2020). ESDAC is thehome for data collected within otherCommission services such as Eurostat'sLUCAS Survey and the JRC's Biosoil project.

• The ESDAC Map Viewer allows users tonavigate through key soil data for Europe.It provides access to the attributes of theJRC’s European Soil Database and someadditional data related to main soil threatsas identified in the Soil Thematic Strategy.The ESDAC Map Viewer prescribes commonstandards to ensure interoperability and real-time integration of environmental data fromaround the world.

Analyses of the application of ESDAC datasetshave yielded some interesting conclusions.For example, a high number of researchers useESDAC data for modelling, research projects,PhD theses and related academic purposes(Masters dissertations, postdoctoral studies,undergraduate projects).

In parallel, ESDAC data and information arehighly relevant for a number of EU policy areasand have been utilised for studies relating toagriculture, bioenergy, water protection,nature protection, development policy, healthand sustainable development, land use andland use changes, and soil pollution.5

For more information, please visit:https://esdac.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ or contact ec-esdac@ec.europa.eu

5 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264837711000718

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While targets have beenset by some countries, nolegal standards for soilquality are currently set atthe EU level.

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Industrialisation over the past 200 years hascreated much wealth and opportunities forhuman beings. However, this progress hasbeen accompanied by numerous side effects,which include releases of hazardous chemicalsthat pollute the air, water and, in particular,soil. The emissions of dangerous substancesfrom local sources can impact the quality ofsoil functions and water quality, with obviousrisks to human health and the provision ofecosystem services.

The overarching policy objective for theEuropean Union (EU) is to impede potentialrisk to the environment and human healthcaused by manmade contaminants. Whileexisting EU legislation helps to prevent newcontamination of soil (i.e. the IntegratedPollution Prevention and Control Directive,Landfill Directive, and Water FrameworkDirective), efforts should still be made to dealwith historical soil contamination.

While targets have been set by some countries,no legal standards for soil quality are currentlyset at the EU level. In general, legislation aimsto prevent new contamination and to set targetsfor the remediation of sites where environmentalstandards have already been exceeded.

In this context, the JRC collects data on theindicator “Progress in the Management ofContaminated Sites” which aims to assess theadverse effects caused and measures taken tosatisfy environmental standards according tocurrent legal requirements. In 2014, theindicator reported6 that:

• There are an estimated 2.5 million potentiallycontaminated sites in Europe, where soilcontamination is suspected and detailedinvestigations are needed;

• Out of the circa 115 000 contaminated sitesthat have already been identified in Europe,nearly half of them (46%) have already beenremediated;

• Contaminated sites are mainly managedusing ‘traditional’ techniques such asexcavation and off-site disposal, whichtogether account for about one third ofmanagement practices;

• Mining activities, metal industries andgasoline stations are the most frequentlyreported sources of soil and groundwatercontamination. However, the range ofpolluting activities varies considerably fromcountry to country;

• The most frequently occurring contaminantsare mineral oils and heavy metals;

• Annual national expenditure for themanagement of contaminated sites is onaverage about €10 per capita.

The indicator will be revised in 2018.

To support the reduction of this pressure on soil,the JRC has collaborated with countries acrossEurope to publish a monograph7 of successstories of best practices in the remediation ofcontaminated and brownfield sites. The reportpresents twenty-nine case studies from thirteencountries that show progress in research andinnovative technologies of soil remediation, thebeneficial integration of stakeholders indecision-making and fruitful progress in raisingpublic awareness and citizen science.

A second monograph8 has just been publishedcontaining more inspirational examples ofbrownfield redevelopment that supports thetrend towards the objective of ‘no net land take’.These include the 2012 London Olympic Park,the new residential area of Penttilänranta inFinland, and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.

For more information, please contact: ana.paya-perez@ec.europa.eu

6 http://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/bitstream/111111111/30755/1/lbna26376enn.pdf7 http://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/bitstream/JRC98077/lbna27530enn.pdf8 http://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/bitstream/JRC102681/kj0217891enn.pdf

Dealing with contaminated sites

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While the importance of soil seems evidentlyclear, it has not necessarily received the duecare and attention in terms of its use andmanagement. Part of the difficulty is a societalperception whereby soils are regarded as arenewable resource, an increasingly urbanpopulation that is losing connection with thecritical ecosystem services provided by soil,and a reluctance to champion sustainable soilmanagement approaches. As a result, there isan urgent need to raise awareness on theimportance of soil, especially the need toprotect soils and use them in a moresustainable manner.

The Global Soil Partnership (GSP) wasestablished by the Food and AgricultureOrganization of the United Nations (FAO) in2012 as a mechanism to develop a stronginteractive partnership and enhancedcollaboration and synergy of efforts betweenall stakeholders. Including all relevantstakeholders, the key objectives of the GSPare to improve the governance and promotesustainable management of soils. Since itscreation, the GSP has become an importantforum in which global soil issues are discussedand addressed by multiple stakeholders. Recentoutputs, such as the report on the State ofWorld Soil Resources, have demonstrated thatthe concept fills a gap in the promotion ofsustainable soil management.

A key element of the GSP is Regional SoilPartnerships (RSP), which are formed amonginterested and active stakeholders in the fiveFAO regions. In 2013, the GSP secretariatconvened a workshop to launch theEuropean Soil Partnership (ESP), whoseSecretariat is hosted by the EuropeanCommission’s Joint Research Centre in Ispra,Italy9. Given the specificities of eastern Europe

9 https://esdac.jrc.ec.europa.eu/networkcooperations/european-soil-partnership

Creating a Europea Soil Partnership

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and Eurasian GSP members, a sub-regional soilpartnership within the ESP was createdcovering Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus,Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova,the Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkey,Tukmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, which ischaired by the Russian Federation.

In line with the GSP, the vision of the ESP is toimprove the governance of European soilresources in order to guarantee healthy andproductive soils for a food secure world, andto support other essential ecosystem services.This will be achieved by building actions thatfoster awareness and contribute to thedevelopment of capacities, build on bestavailable science, and both facilitate andcontribute to the exchange of knowledge andtechnologies among stakeholders for thesustainable management and use of soilresources. The activities of the ESP focus onfive core areas:

• Pillar 1: Promote sustainable managementof soil resources for soil protection,conservation and sustainable productivity;

• Pillar 2: Encourage investment, technicalcooperation, policy, education, awarenessand extension (advice to farmers) in soils;

• Pillar 3: Promote targeted soil research anddevelopment, focusing on identified gaps,priorities, and synergies with relatedproductive, environmental and socialdevelopment actions;

• Pillar 4: Enhance the quantity, quality andavailability of soil data and information: datacollection (generation), analysis, validation,modelling, reporting, monitoring andintegration with other disciplines;

• Pillar 5: Harmonisation of methods,measurements and indicators for thesustainable management and protection ofsoil resources.

For additional information or if you feel thatyou would like to contribute to the ESP,especially in relation to the five core activities,please contact: marc.van-liedekerke@ec.europa.eu orluca.montanarella@ec.europa.eu

an

This ebook has been produced through the contributions of Arwyn JONES, Cristiano BALLABIO, OihaneFERNANDEZ UGALDE, Javier HERVAS, Emanuele LUGATO, Luca MONTANARELLA, Alberto ORGIAZZI, Panos

PANAGOS, Ana PAYA PEREZ, Marc VAN LIEDEKERKE and numerous ex-colleagues.

Special thanks to the fantastic support given by Constantin CIUPAGEA, Sara ANTONELLI, SoledadDOMINGUEZ GUILLEN. Adrienn GRUBER and Orsolya PERJESSY.

Jones A, Ballabio C, Fernandez Ugalde O, Hervas J, Lugato E, Montanarella L, Orgiazzi A, Panagos P, Paya Perez A, and Van Liedekerke M, 2018. SOIL: how much do we value this critical resource? Highlights

from recent JRC research. Ebook JRC1111081