The document provides an overview of the EEA and Eionet model for assessing soil condition in Europe. It involves 1800 soil experts from 39 countries and over 400 institutions who are organized into National Focal Points, National Reference Centers for Soil, and the European Topic Centre on Urban, Land and Soil Systems. The assessment will involve collecting data from national experts to evaluate threats to soil functions across Europe in the 2020/2021 European Soil Condition Assessment. This will cover physical, chemical, and biological degradation of soils and provide country-specific summaries to update understanding of soil trends and challenges.

1. EEA Eionet
NRC Soil
SOER 2020
European Soil Condition Assessment 2020/21

2. The EEA and Eionet model
Regulation No 1210/1990 (amended No 401/2009)
1800 experts (39 countries, > 400 national institutions)
N = 39 NFPsN = 6 ETCs
N = 24 NRCs
ETC Urban, land and Soil Systems (ULS)
Eionet: European
information and
observation network
NRC Soil: National
reference centres soil
ETC/ULS: European topic
centre urban land and
soil systems

3. Eionet/NRC Soil in the ESP
Who makes plans? Who implements what?
 see ESP governance, see Pillar 4 and 5 implementation structure
 (…) existing networks, e.g. NRC Soil and ETC/ULS
core competencies: soil monitoring, soil contamination
Eionet: European information and observation network
NRC Soil: National reference centres soil
ETC/ULS: European topic centre urban land and soil systems

4. ETC/ULS
EEA
EC DG JRC
Work on N, P, metals,
thresholds, soil degradation
 activity report 2018
Draft SOER 2020
Preparation follow-up
Report Contaminated Sites
LUCAS 2015 report (for Eurostat)
LUCAS 2018 sampling/building
country cooperations
LUCAS 2021 planning
EC DG ENV
EU Expert Group on Soil Protection
 First discussion about post-2020 targets
NRC Soil
Network/cooperation
Eionet
NFP
GSP/ESP
Common Forum on Contaminated Land
WHO Env and Health
ICP Forests
Research projects

5. INSPIRE
NEC
Indicators
EU-SDG, CAP, EEA, SEBI, MAES-Soil
NRC Soil
LULUCF
Other policies
Soil-related aspects
7th EAP
Context
EU Biodiversity
Strategy

6. WG Soil Contamination
Task Force Soil Monitoring
NRC Soil
PCP
Primary Contact Points
National summary reports,
case studies, evidence
European Soil Condition
Assessment 2020/2021
NRC Soil 2019/2020
Contaminated sites and
diffuse contamination, risk
assessment, thresholds
2-yr mandate: design and concept
European Soil Monitoring System

7. EEA State and Outlook of
the Environment
SOER2020

8. Key messages
 Land and soil are the foundation for producing crops, livestock and other ecosystem
services. Agricultural area has decreased while food consumption and new uses for
biomass (renewable energy and bioeconomy) require maintaining agricultural
output. This leads to pressures on land and soil, which need to be closely monitored.
 Soil degradation is abundant, while difficult to measure and often not easily
visible. Europe’s soils continue to lose their critical ecosystem functions through
sealing, erosion, compaction, contamination and soil carbon losses. Research
indicates that the effects of unsustainable land management on soil biodiversity as
the key biological engine of terrestrial carbon and nutrient cycling, is endangered.

9. Soil condition
Past trends
(10-15 years)
Land cover change and management intensity significantly affect soil
condition and (…) contamination. (…) soil sealing continues (…) loss
of fertile soils. On intensively managed croplands, soil biodiversity is
endangered. Soil loss through sedimentation via erosion is still
significant. The effects of soil compaction and historic and current
losses of soil organic carbon (…) increasingly visible under climate
change.
Outlooks 2030 (…) continue increasing pressures on soils even further. The absence
of harmonised, representative soil monitoring across Europe, will result
in a lack of early warnings about critical thresholds to guide
sustainable soil management.
Prospects to
meet policy
objectives/
targets
2020

Europe is not on track to meet policy objectives relating to reducing
erosion and halting the decrease in soil organic matter by 2020. There
is a lack of binding policy targets; soil threats such as compaction,
salinization and soil sealing are not addressed in European policies.
Robustness A consistent set of indicators and representative data bases for all soil threats across
Europe has not yet been established. Measurements and monitoring of soil threats are
incomplete. For selected indicators, data about changes of the condition of topsoils can
be derived from the LUCAS Soil programme (a soil biodiversity component will be
released in 2020). The assessment of outlooks and prospects to meet policy objectives
relies primarily on expert judgement.

10.  Physical degradation of soils
Soil Condition – 3 sub-sections
(includes: soil sealing, erosion, compaction)
 Chemical degradation of soils in urban areas and
under intensive agriculture increases
(includes: local and diffuse contamination, acidification and eutrophication)
 Biological degradation of soils, soil organic matter
decline and multi-functionality of soils
(includes: soil organic carbon, soil biodiversity)

11. Towards the
European Soil
Condition Assessment
2020/21

12. European Soil Condition Assessment
2020/21
 Based on SOER key messages, development of an extensive soil
assessment based on country-level input:
 Context: natural capital, ecosystem services, efficient resource
use, biodiversity and health, climate change
 Update and extend evidence
 Cover all threats and functions
 Country-specific issues: summary assessments

13. Global Environment Outlook
(UNEP, 2007)
Land degradation in the
form of soil erosion,
nutrient depletion, water
scarcity, salinity and
disruption of
biological cycles is a
fundamental and
persistent problem.
Challenges
Very
poor
Poor Fair Good
Very
good
In condition In trend
Sealing and capping In densely populated Western Europe soil sealing is
one of the most threatening phenomena. ↙ ● ●
Salinization and
sodification
Salinization is a widespread threat in Central Asia,
and it is challenging in some areas in Spain,
Hungary, Turkey, and Russia.
↙ ● ●
Contamination Soil contamination is a widespread problem in
Europe. The most frequent contaminants are heavy
metals and mineral oil. The situation is improving in
most regions.
↗ ● ◒
Organic carbon
change
The loss of organic carbon is evident in most
agricultural soils. Peatland drainage in northern
countries also leads to rapid organic carbon loss. In
Russia, extensive areas of agricultural lands were
abandoned that resulted in quick organic matter
accumulation; however, actually these areas partly
returned to agricultural use.
~ ◒ ◒
Condition and Trend Confidence
Threat to soil
function
Summary
Very
poor
Poor Fair Good
Very
good
In condition In trend
Sealing and capping In densely populated Western Europe soil sealing is
one of the most threatening phenomena. ↙ ● ●
Salinization and
sodification
Salinization is a widespread threat in Central Asia,
and it is challenging in some areas in Spain,
Hungary, Turkey, and Russia.
↙ ● ●
Contamination Soil contamination is a widespread problem in
Europe. The most frequent contaminants are heavy
metals and mineral oil. The situation is improving in
most regions.
↗ ● ◒
Organic carbon
change
The loss of organic carbon is evident in most
agricultural soils. Peatland drainage in northern
countries also leads to rapid organic carbon loss. In
Russia, extensive areas of agricultural lands were
abandoned that resulted in quick organic matter
accumulation; however, actually these areas partly
returned to agricultural use.
~ ◒ ◒
Nutrient imbalance In the western part of the region the loss of
nutrients is compensed by application of high doses
of fertilizers. In the eatern part the use of fertilizers
is insufficient, and in most soils nutrient mining
results in intensive mineral weathering.
~ ◒ ◒
Soil erosion Water erosion is active in all the cultivated
mountainous and rolling areas; the worst situation
is observed in Turkey, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
Due to the attention paid to this threat it is
controlled in most areas, especially in the EU.
↗ ● ◒
Loss of soil
biodiversity
Loss of biodiversity is expected in the most
urbanized and contaminated areas of the region.
Condition and Trend Confidence
Threat to soil
function
Summary
Status of the World’s Soil
Resources (FAO and ITPS,
2015)

14. rainer.baritz@eea.europa.eu