Abstract
The adoption of the EU Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection by the European Commission on 22 September 2006 has given formal recognition of the severity of the soil and land degradation processes within the European Union and its bordering countries. Available information suggests that, over recent decades, there has been a significant increase in soil degradation processes, and there is evidence that these processes will further increase if no action is taken. Soil degradation processes are driven or exacerbated by human activity. Climate change, together with individual extreme weather events, which are becoming more frequent, will also have negative effects on soil. Soil degradation processes occurring in the European Union include erosion, organic matter decline, compaction, salinisation, landslides, contamination, sealing and biodiversity decline. Effective soil protection policies can only be based on a detailed assessment of the costs of non-action, and the potential economic benefits from enhanced soil protection strategies in Europe. The total costs of soil degradation that could be assessed for erosion, organic matter decline, salinisation, landslides and contamination on the basis of available data, would be up to €38 billion annually for EU25. These estimates are necessarily wide ranging due to the lack of sufficient quantitative and qualitative data. The Soil Thematic Strategy of the European Union paves the way towards adequate measures in order to reverse the negative trends in soil and land degradation in Europe and will have also an extensive impact at the global scale by promoting similar actions in the framework of internationally binding agreements related to land degradation, like the UNCCD, UNFCCC and CBD.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Crescimanno G, Lane M, Owens P, Rydel B, Jacobsen O, Düwel O, Böken H, Berényi-Üveges Castillo V, Imeson A (2004) Final Report, Working Group on Soil Erosion, Task Group 5: Links with organic matter and contamination working group and secondary soil threats. European Commission, Directorate-General Environment, Brussels.
EEA (1995) Soil. In: Europe’s Environment: the Dobris Assessment. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg.
EEA (1998) Europe’s Environment: the second assessment. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg.
EEA (1999) Soil degradation. In: Environment in the European Union at the turn of the century, Environmental assessment report No 2
EEA (2000) Down to earth: soil degradation and sustainable development in Europe — A challenge for the 21st century, Environmental issue report no 16, European Environment Agency
EEA (2006) Corine Land Cover. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg.
ESBN (2005) Soil ATLAS of Europe. European Soil Bureau Network, European Commission. pp. 111.
Jones, RJA, Hiederer R, Rusco E, Loveland PJ, Montanarella L (2003). Topsoil organic carbon in Europe. Proceedings of the 4th European Congress on Regional Geoscientific Cartography and Information Systems, 17–20 June 2003, Bologna.
Jones RJA, Hiederer R, Rusco E, Loveland PJ, Montanarella L (2005) Estimating organic carbon in the soils of Europe for policy support. Eur J Soil Sci 56:655–671.
Jones RJA, Houšková B, Bullock P, Montanarella L (Eds) (2005) Soil Resources of Europe, second edition. European Soil Bureau Research Report No.9, EUR 20559 EN, 420pp. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg.
Katakouzinos, D. (1968). Pedology — Fertilisation. Vol. B: Improvement, fertilisation, classification, mapping of soil. Spiros Spirou & Sons Ltd., Athens, 605 pp. (text in Greek).
Kirkby MJ et al. (2004) Pan-European Soil Erosion Risk Assessment: The PESERA Map, Version 1, October 2003, European Soil Bureau Research No. 16, EUR 21176, OPOCE
Lal R (2000) Soil conversion and restoration to sequester carbon and mitigate the greenhouse effect. III International Congress European Society for Soil Conervation, Valencia, 2000
MOE (2000) Ministry of the Environment, Classificazione dei Comuni italiani in base al livello di attenzione per il rischio idrogeologico, Monography Collana della Relazione sullo Stato dell’Ambiente, Italy
Regione Emilia-Romagna (2003) Direzione Generale Ambiente e Difesa del Suolo e della Costa, Servizio Geologoco, Sismico e dei Suol
Van-Camp L, Bujarrabal B, Gentile A-R, Jones RJA, Montanarella L, Olazábal C, Selvaradjou S-K (2004a). Reports of the Technical Working Groups Established under the Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection, pp. 179
Van-Camp L, Bujarrabal B, Gentile A-R, Jones RJA, Montanarella L, Olazábal C, Selvaradjou S-K (2004b). Reports of the Technical Working Groups Established under the Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection, EUR 21319 EN/1-Working Group on Research
Van-Camp L, Bujarrabal B, Gentile A-R, Jones RJA, Montanarella L, Olazábal C, Selvaradjou S-K (2004c). Reports of the Technical Working Groups Established under the Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection, Vol. III, Organic matter.
Van Ouwerkerk C, Soane BD (eds) (1995) Soil compaction and the environment. Special issue, Soil Till Res 35:1–113.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Montanarella, L. (2007). Trends in Land Degradation in Europe. In: Sivakumar, M.V.K., Ndiang’ui, N. (eds) Climate and Land Degradation. Environmental Science and Engineering. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-72438-4_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-72438-4_5
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-72437-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-72438-4
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)