Drivers of soil health across European Union – Data from the literature review

Abstract

Soil health in Europe has reached a critical point: it is estimated that 60-70% of European soils are unhealthy. Changes in land use, its intensity and the quality of management have significant impacts on soil health and soil related ecosystem services. A systems analysis of soil health dynamics requires an understanding of the drivers inducing changes in land use and management. The DPSIR framework was adapted to the context of soil health in the European Union (EU) and used as an analytical framework for identifying the drivers for soil health. A scoping literature review, divided in four parts based on different land use types (urban and industrial, agriculture, forest, and nature), was conducted using the PRISMA protocol. The identified drivers across all land uses have been adjusted and standardised in in-person and online workshops. This metadata set presents the typology of drivers sorted according to the EU soil mission's soil health objectives, land use type, and location. The literature review was conducted as part of SOLO (Soils for Europe), a EU´s Horizon Europe funded project and the dataset will support the co creation and knowledge developing platforms (think tanks) for each EU soil mission objectives.