{"title":"Governance and degradation of soil in the EU. An overview of policies with a focus on soil erosion","authors":"Nikolaos Efthimiou","doi":"10.1016/j.still.2024.106308","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Healthy soils provide critical ecosystem services, addressing modern societal challenges such as human health safeguarding, food security, climate change adaptation, etc. Unfortunately, 60–70 % of soils in the European Union (EU) are in an unhealthy state, due to various natural and socio-economic factors. Degradation is the most severe threat, impairing soil quality, hindering the full delivery of its functions, jeopardizing its productivity, and constituting a monetary hazard. This is why the European Commission (EC) has put soil health at the epicenter of several EU policies, in different, yet inter-connected domains (e.g., agriculture, climate, etc.). Soil governance has gained increasing interest over the years, with the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the European Green Deal (EGD) being frontrunners in the attempt to achieve climatic neutrality, zero pollution, and sustainable food provision. These times call for a holistic revision of our production systems, consumption patterns, and the management of soil. However, a significant gap between soil conservation science and practice raises concerns about the effectiveness of soil-related policies. With a focus on soil erosion, this review provides an overview of such policies and how they promote soil restoration and preservation, underlining in parallel the importance of public awareness and participatory engagement in achieving their objectives.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49503,"journal":{"name":"Soil & Tillage Research","volume":"245 ","pages":"Article 106308"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016719872400309X/pdfft?md5=dd00b778bf0c0811965157f806e17eb3&pid=1-s2.0-S016719872400309X-main.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Soil & Tillage Research","FirstCategoryId":"97","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016719872400309X","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"SOIL SCIENCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Healthy soils provide critical ecosystem services, addressing modern societal challenges such as human health safeguarding, food security, climate change adaptation, etc. Unfortunately, 60–70 % of soils in the European Union (EU) are in an unhealthy state, due to various natural and socio-economic factors. Degradation is the most severe threat, impairing soil quality, hindering the full delivery of its functions, jeopardizing its productivity, and constituting a monetary hazard. This is why the European Commission (EC) has put soil health at the epicenter of several EU policies, in different, yet inter-connected domains (e.g., agriculture, climate, etc.). Soil governance has gained increasing interest over the years, with the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the European Green Deal (EGD) being frontrunners in the attempt to achieve climatic neutrality, zero pollution, and sustainable food provision. These times call for a holistic revision of our production systems, consumption patterns, and the management of soil. However, a significant gap between soil conservation science and practice raises concerns about the effectiveness of soil-related policies. With a focus on soil erosion, this review provides an overview of such policies and how they promote soil restoration and preservation, underlining in parallel the importance of public awareness and participatory engagement in achieving their objectives.
期刊介绍:
Soil & Tillage Research examines the physical, chemical and biological changes in the soil caused by tillage and field traffic. Manuscripts will be considered on aspects of soil science, physics, technology, mechanization and applied engineering for a sustainable balance among productivity, environmental quality and profitability. The following are examples of suitable topics within the scope of the journal of Soil and Tillage Research:
The agricultural and biosystems engineering associated with tillage (including no-tillage, reduced-tillage and direct drilling), irrigation and drainage, crops and crop rotations, fertilization, rehabilitation of mine spoils and processes used to modify soils. Soil change effects on establishment and yield of crops, growth of plants and roots, structure and erosion of soil, cycling of carbon and nutrients, greenhouse gas emissions, leaching, runoff and other processes that affect environmental quality. Characterization or modeling of tillage and field traffic responses, soil, climate, or topographic effects, soil deformation processes, tillage tools, traction devices, energy requirements, economics, surface and subsurface water quality effects, tillage effects on weed, pest and disease control, and their interactions.