Legal acts on soil protection
Any sustainable design of food systems starts with the soil. Without soil, there is no life. And without soil life, there is no yield.
The UN report Global Land Outlook 2: https://www.unccd.int/resources/global-land-outlook/glo2-summary-decision-makers has once again dramatically highlighted the extent to which the soil is being damaged by our current agricultural systems.
The 2022 report revealed that 40 per cent of the Earth’s land area suitable for agriculture and forestry is already damaged and is therefore no longer as fertile as it originally was. Half of humanity is now affected by this problem.
The threat to soil biodiversity poses at least as great a risk to us as that to biodiversity above ground!
>> Soil biota play a vital role in soil fertility and have a significant impact on agricultural yields. They also help to purify air and water. If these functions were to be performed synthetically, it would cost trillions of euros every year. <<
EU Commission 2010
A 2026 ‘FAO report’https://www.fao.org/newsroom/detail/fao-at-cop17—new-report-warns-soil-degradation-worsening-as-adoption-of-proven-solutions-lags/en states that more than half of the world’s soils are now in poor condition. In around a third of cases, soil quality is moderate; only in 14 per cent is it good or very good. This is said to be putting the global food supply and biodiversity at risk.
Agricultural use plays a major part in this. It is becoming increasingly urgent to change this. I have compiled many facts here to show that it is possible:
“Sustainable farming isn’t a threat to food security. It might be the only thing that saves it.”:https://www.arc2020.eu/sustainable-farming-isnt-a-threat-to-food-security-it-might-be-the-only-thing-that-saves-it/
Since the early 2000s, EU-wide legislation on soil protection has been blocked. This defies all reason, was a mistake even then, and is completely out of step with the challenges of our time.
In the > Soil Protection Strategy presented on 17 November 2021 for an EU-wide framework for the protection and sustainable use of soil, the European Commission addresses the various threats to soil and regrets that there is still no EU-wide protection framework for soil, as there is for air and water.
Video EU Missions Soil Health and Food
In spring 2021, the European Parliament also called for a binding legislative proposal on soil protection in a resolution.
However, the announced ‘Soil Health Act’ has now become a Directive on soil monitoring
The European Environmental Bureau writes: ‘The change shows that the main objective of the directive is limited to monitoring the condition of soils in the EU and not to restoring the health of European soils. This is very disappointing and once again leaves the health of our soils to chance.’
The directive does not contain any binding targets or requirements. Instead, it focuses on data collection and monitoring, for example of salinisation, erosion, loss of organic carbon, compaction, nutrient content, contamination, water retention capacity, sealing, concentration of phosphorus, heavy metals and chemicals.
The Soil Monitoring Directive has now been adopted despite fierce opposition from the Council and the European Parliament. In view of the watering down and rejection of environmentally-oriented regulations at EU level in recent months, this is an important step. But it is not enough. As part of my advisory work, I will campaign intensively for improvements in soil protection.
You can see how far the EU has progressed with its soil strategy here:
EU Soil Strategy Actions Tracker
The latest agricultural reform has once again failed to integrate binding, effective regulations on soil protection into the conditionality requirements for ‘good agricultural and environmental condition’ (GAEC) for the receipt of direct payments. In addition, some of these have already been abolished again. This makes it all the more urgent for us to have a European regulatory framework that gives soil protection the same attention and protection as the protection of air and water!
Although Section 17 of the German Federal Soil Protection Act (BBSchG) refers to agricultural management, however, this only refers to ‘good professional practice’, which remains undefined. This needs to be revised urgently.
I support these processes as part of my consulting work at national and European level.
The Office for Soil Protection & Ecological Agriculture supports the European position paper with recommendations for the Soil Monitoring Directive:
Offer: Agricultural soil protection – laws, initiatives, funding opportunities – lecture or seminar
“Carbon farming” – the EU strategy is supposed to ensure climate protection in agriculture. However, some of the techniques discussed are highly questionable – also from a soil protection perspective….
You can find more about “carbon farming” here.
You can find my overall offer on soil protection here.
Publications:
Beste, A. (2023): Soil protection-related legislation and strategies in the European Union
Beste, A. (2022): GREENWASHING & HIGH TECH – Faking it: (un-)sustainable solutions for agriculture.
Beste, A. (2022): Keynote lecture ‘On the state of soils in Europe’s agriculture’.
