Abstract
This chapter focuses on the history of soil protection in the EU, the state of pollutants in soils and recent visions adopted by the European Commission to decrease contamination level to rich healthy soils. The EU involvement in soil protection has lasted for several decades. Throughout these years many political actions, visions, strategies, directives, and research programmes have been announced. They were primarily dedicated to human health and then expanded to environmental protection. High concentration levels of HMs, POPs, and other groups of contaminants in soils negatively influence living organisms. This was a strong signal for politicians to recognize soil pollution as one of the main threats influencing soil functions and include soil protection in politics. The first part of this chapter presents the history of EU efforts towards indication of the soil importance for human life, identification of the main groups of soil pollutants causing reverse effects to human health and soil biota, and implementation of actions by EU towards reduction of soil pollution. It refers to various international and European documents and provides information on institutions established in the EU to collect, provide access, and share information on soil pollution status in the MSs. The second part of the chapter is dedicated to the state of soil pollution in Europe. It covers problems of pollutants’ sources, and refers to historical and emerginge contaminants as well as soil quality criteria. The third part of this chapter refers to new concepts of soil health and soil-based ecosystem services adopted in soil-directed EU strategies and directives supporting the European Green Deal. It also points out on key targets referring to reduction of soil contamination by 2030 and by 2050.
References
Kabata-Pendias A, Pendias H (2001) Trace elements in soils and plants.3rd edn. CRC Press
Ali H et al (2019) Environmental chemistry and ecotoxicology of hazardous
UNEP (2020) Stockholm convention on persistent organic pollutants (POPs)
OECD (2013) Synthesis paper on per- and polyfluorinated chemicals (PFCs), Environment, Health and Safety, Environment Directorate, OECD
Mejías C et al (2021) Occurrence of pharmaceuticals and their metabolites in sewage sludge and soil: a review on their distribution and environmental risk assessment. Trends Environ Anal Chem 30:e00125
Cycoń M et al (2019) Antibiotics in the soil environment – degradation and their impact on microbial activity and diversity. Front Microbiol 10:338. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2019.00338
Ding J et al (2021) Testosterone amendment alters metabolite profiles of the soil microbial community. Environ Pollut 272:115928
Consolidated version of the treaty on the functioning of the European Union (2012). Off J Eur Union, 326/49
Council of Europe (1972) European Soil Charter
FAO (1982) World Soil Charter
European Commission (2002) Towards a thematic strategy for soil protection
European Commission (2006) Framework for the protection of soil and amending Directive 2004/35/EC
European Commission (2009) The European Environment Agency and the European Environment Information and Observation Network
Ballabio C et al (2018) Copper distribution in European topsoils: an assessment based on LUCAS soil survey. Sci Total Environ 636:282–298
Ballabio C et al (2021) A spatial assessment of mercury content in the European Union topsoil. Sci Total Environ 769:144755
Ballabio C et al (2024) Cadmium in topsoils of the European Union – an analysis based on LUCAS topsoil database. Sci Total Environ 912:168710
FAO and ITPS (2015) Status of the World’s Soil Resources (SWSR) – Main Report. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils, Rome, Italy, p 648
FAO and UNEP (2021) Global assessment of soil pollution – summary for policy makers. Rome, FAO https://doi.org/10.4060/cb4827en
ISO 11074 (2015) Soil quality – vocabulary
Payá Pérez A, Rodríguez Eugenio N (2018) Status of local soil contamination in Europe. Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg. https://doi.org/10.2760/093804
Rodríguez-Eugenio N et al (2018) Soil pollution: a hidden reality. FAO, Rome
EEA (2023) Soil monitoring in Europe – Indicators and thresholds for soil health assessments. EEA Report No 08/2022. e77e791b83914ad688cf8722dd0cae85
EEA (2019) The European environment – state and outlook 2020. Knowledge for transition to a sustainable Europe., p. 499. Copenhagen, Denmark, European Environment Agency. Available at: https://www.eea.eur18]opa.eu/soer-2020/soer-2020
Kopittke PM et al (2019) Soil and the intensification of agriculture for global food security. Environ Int 132:105078
Stolte J et al (2015) Soil threats in Europe. Joint Research Centre https://doi.org/10.2788/828742
Tóth G et al (2016) Maps of heavy metals in the soils of the European Union and proposed priority areas for detailed assessment. Sci Total Environ 565:1054–1062. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.05.115
Van Eydne E et al (2023) Spatial assessment of topsoil zinc concentrations in Europe. Sci Total Environ 892:164512
Silva V et al (2019) Pesticide residues in European agricultural soils – a hidden reality unfolded. Sci Total Environ 653:1532–1545
Orgiazzi A et al (2022) LUCAS soil biodiversity and LUCAS soil pesticides, new tools for research and policy development. Eur J Soil Sci 73:e13299. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejss.13299
Faber JH et al (2022) Stocktaking for agricultural soil quality and ecosystem services indicators and their reference values. EJP SOIL Internal Project SIREN Deliverable 2, https://ejpsoil.eu/fileadmin/projects/ejpsoil/1st_call_projects/SIREN/SIREN_D2_final_report.pdf
Cornu S et al (2023) National soil data in EU countries, where do we stand? Eur J Soil Sci 24:e13398. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejss.13398
Naidu R et al (2020) Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS): current status and research needs. Environ Technol Innov 19:100915
Ramasamy B, Palanisamy S (2021) Review on occurrence, characteristics, toxicology and treatment of nanoplastic waste in the environment. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28:43258–43273
Sajjad M et al (2022) Microplatics in the environment: a critical review. Environ Technol Innov 27:102408
Fernandez-Ugalde O et al (2022) LUCAS 2018 Soil Module. Presentation of dataset and results, EUR 31144 EN, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg. ISBN 978-92-76-54832-4. Doi: https://doi.org/10.2760/215013, JRC129926
ISO 19258 (2018) Soil quality – guidance on the determination of background values
Horizon Europe, open science – early knowledge and data sharing, and open collaboration, Publications Office of the European Union, 2021, https://data.europa.eu. https://doi.org/10.2777/18252
Barbier E (2009) A Global Green New Deal, Report prepared for the Green Economy Initiative of UNEP
European Commission (2019) European green deal
Veerman C et al (2020) Caring for soil is caring for life – ensure 75% of soils are healthy by 2030 for food, people, nature and climate, independent expert report
MEA (2005) Ecosystems and human well-being: current state and trends. In: Millennium ecosystem assessment, global assessment reports. WHO Press, Geneva
INCA (2021) Accounting for ecosystems and their services in the European Union. Final report from phase II of the INCA project aiming to develop a pilot for an integrated system of ecosystem accounts for the EU
Heuser I (2022) Soil governance in current European Union Law and in the European Green Deal. Soil Secur 6:100053
European Commission Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 Bringing nature back into our lives
European Commission (2020) Farm to Fork Strategy for a fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food system
European Commission (2021) Soil Strategy for 2030 Reaping the benefits of healthy soils for people, food, nature and climate
European Commission (2021) EU action plan: ‘towards zero pollution for air, water and soil’
European Commission (2023) Proposal for a directive on soil monitoring and resilience (soil monitoring law)
Panagos P et al (2022) European Soil Data Centre 2.0: soil data and knowledge in support of the EU policies. Eur J Soil Sci 73:13315
European Commission (2021) EU Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Smreczak, B., Klimkowicz-Pawlas, A., Ukalska-Jaruga, A. (2024). Soil Pollution Framework in Europe. In: The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/698_2024_1079
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/698_2024_1079
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg