Soil Thematic Strategy

Editor's note 21Mar13: Source D141 (common sections), D241, D341.

History and current status

The 2006 EU Soil Thematic Strategy is the last of seven thematic strategies developed under the 6th Environmental Action Programme, following the 2002 Commission Communication "Towards a Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection" and an extensive consultation process. This process resulted in reports on erosion, organic matter, contamination and land management, monitoring, research, sealing and other cross-cutting issues and three associated policy documents were put forward: 1) Communication on the Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection; 2) Impact Assessment supporting a soil framework directive; and 3) proposed EU Soil Framework Directive.

Despite successive attempts since 2007 political agreement on a soil framework directive has not been reached. Several member states have argued that they have robust domestic policies to protect soils and that the proposed EU directive would be too complex and costly too implement.

Implementation

The EU Soil Thematic Strategy aimed to provide a comprehensive strategy to achieve two overarching goals:

1. prevention of soil degradation and
2. restoration of degraded soils.

The Communication on the Thematic Strategy outlines four overarching 'pillars' to achieve these goals:

1. framework legislation;
2. integration of soil protection in national and EU polices;
3. increased research related to soil protection;
4. focus on increasing public awareness about the need to protect soil.

The European Commission also argued an EU legal framework would provide added value in the following areas:

1. Impacts covered by other EU legislation: Soil degradation that impacts other environmental areas, such as air and water.
2. Convergence of national soil protection policies to prevent economic imbalances.
3. Transboundary impacts: Impacts from one Member State on the soil of another Member State (e.g. groundwater contamination).
4. Food safety: preventing and reducing soil contamination at the source would positively impact feed and food safety, where the EU has clear competence.
5. International soil protection through the UNCCD, UNFCCC and CBD).

In the absence of legally binding instruments, the implementation of the EU strategy has largely been focused on the set of non-binding principles. Member States are participating in international conventions and develop their own soil protection policies and measures. This heightens the importance of Member State participation in the UNCCD, as well as the integration of soil issues in other policies such as the Water Framework Directive, the CAP and regional policy.

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