Threats to Soil Quality in Europe

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Threats to Soil Quality in Europe Threats to Soil Quality in Europe Gergely Tóth, Luca Montanarella and Ezio Rusco (eds.) EUR 23438 EN - 2008 Threats to Soil Quality in Europe The mission of the Institute for Environment and Sustainability is to provide scientific-technical support to the European Union’s Policies for the protection and sustainable development of the European and global environment. European Commission Joint Research Centre Institute for Environment and Sustainability Contact information Address: Joint Research Centre, TP 280, 21027 Ispra (VA) Italy E-mail: [email protected] Tel.: +39 0332 786483 Fax: +39 0332 786394 http://ies.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ http://www.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ Legal Notice Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission is responsible for the use which might be made of this publication. Europe Direct is a service to help you find answers to your questions about the European Union Freephone number (*): 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 (*) Certain mobile telephone operators do not allow access to 00 800 numbers or these calls may be billed. A great deal of additional information on the European Union is available on the Internet. It can be accessed through the Europa server http://europa.eu/ JRC 46574 EUR 23438 EN ISBN 978-92-79-09529-0 ISSN 1018-5593 DOI 10.2788/8647 Cover picture: Pedologist in the soil pit (photo by Gergely Tóth) Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities © European Communities, 2008 Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged Printed in Italy Threats to Soil Quality in Europe Gergely Tóth, Luca Montanarella and Ezio Rusco (eds.) Institute for Environment and Sustainability Land Management and Natural Hazards Unit EUR 23438 EN TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE ................................................................................................................................................................... 3 CHARACTERISATION OF SOIL DEGRADATION RISK: AN OVERVIEW ................................................. 5 W. E. H. BLUM SOIL QUALITY IN THE EUROPEAN UNION................................................................................................... 11 G. TÓTH MAIN THREATS TO SOIL QUALITY IN EUROPE THE NATURAL SUSCEPTIBILITY OF EUROPEAN SOILS TO COMPACTION....................................... 23 B. HOUŠKOVÁ AND L. MONTANARELLA SOIL EROSION: A MAIN THREATS TO THE SOILS IN EUROPE............................................................... 37 E. RUSCO, L. MONTANARELLA, C. BOSCO SOIL EROSION RISK ASSESSMENT IN THE ALPINE AREA ACCORDING TO THE IPCC SCENARIOS ............................................................................................................................................................. 47 C. BOSCO, E. RUSCO, L. MONTANARELLA, S. OLIVERI AN EXAMPLE OF SOIL THREAT EVALUATION: WIND EROSION ASSESSMENT USING DSM TECHNIQUES................................................................................................................................................ 59 H.I.REUTER, F.CARRE, T.HENGL, L.MONTANARELLA UPDATED MAP OF SALT AFFECTED SOILS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION.............................................. 65 G. TÓTH, K. ADHIKARI, GY. VÁRALLYAY, T. TÓTH, K. BÓDIS AND V. STOLBOVOY A FRAMEWORK TO ESTIMATE THE DISTRIBUTION OF HEAVY METALS IN EUROPEAN SOILS ................................................................................................................................................. 79 L. RODRIGUEZ, H. I. REUTER, T. HENGL APPLICATION OF SOIL ORGANIC CARBON STATUS INDICATORS FOR POLICY- DECISION MAKING IN THE EU ......................................................................................................................... 87 V.STOLBOVOY AND L.MONTANARELLA MAIN THREATS ON SOIL BIODIVERSITY: THE CASE OF AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITIES IMPACTS ON SOIL MICROARTHROPODS ................................................................................................... 101 C. GARDI, C. MENTA, L. MONTANARELLA, R. CENCI LANDSLIDE RISK MAPPING IN URBAN SPACES BY USING ASTER IMAGERY – A COMPARATIVE CASE STUDY...................................................................................................................... 113 R. SELIGER, H. I. REUTER, L. MONTANARELLA IMPLICATIONS OF SOIL THREATS ON AGRICULTURAL AREAS IN EUROPE ................................. 129 B. MARÉCHAL, P. PROSPERI, E. RUSCO MULTI-SCALE EUROPEAN SOIL INFORMATION SYSTEM (MEUSIS): NOVEL WAYS TO DERIVE SOIL INDICATORS THROUGH UPSCALING................................................................................ 139 P. PANAGOS, M. VAN LIEDEKERKE LIST OF AUTHORS .............................................................................................................................................. 150 1 2 Preface During the recent years, there has been a surge of concern and attention in Europe to soil degradation processes. Initiated by the German Ministry for Environment in 1998 with the first European Soil Forum a process has been developing over the past ten years leading to the adoption by the European Commission in September 2006 of the Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection including a proposal for a Soil framework Directive aiming to the reduction of the exponentially growing soil degradation processes in Europe and to the establishment of a legislative framework allowing for the sustainable use of the limited, non-renewable, natural resource. One of the most innovative aspects of the newly proposed Soil Thematic Strategy for the EU is the recognition of the multifunctionality of soils. Previous legislation, like the soil protection act of 1930’ of the USA, has been essentially focusing on soil protection in relation to the single function of soils as the substrate for food and fiber production (agricultural function). Therefore, traditional definitions of soil quality have been related to the quality of soils for agriculture. Most of the soil science achievements of the past have been related to this mono-functional perspective on soils, starting with the National and International soil classification systems (USDA Soil taxonomy, FAO, WRB, etc…), all focusing mostly on the classification of soils under an agricultural perspective. The adoption of the EU Soil thematic strategy opens new perspectives towards a new definition of soil quality taking into account the various functions of soils: food and fiber production, buffering and filtering of contaminants, biodiversity pool, archive of cultural heritage, source of raw materials, substrate for housing and infrastructure, etc… The re-definition of soil quality will also have a major impact on the environmental reporting process, both at national and International level. Soil Quality is a recognized indicator by the OECD countries and is included in the list of agro-environmental indicators relevant to EUROSTAT as well as to EEA. A more robust and innovative definition of soil quality for Europe will allow more efficient reporting about the status of the environment and will allow to design appropriate monitoring systems for detecting changes in soil quality over time. The special session during EUROSOIL 2008 dedicated to the threats to soil quality in Europe has allowed for an in- depth analysis of the status of research in this are and the identification of still existing research gaps for future action. The full coverage of the threats identified within the Soil Thematic Strategy will allow to further support the on-going process towards better soil protection in Europe. L. Montanarella 3 4 Characterisation of soil degradation risk: an overview W.E.H. Blum 1. Introduction Soil degradation means loss of soil or soil quality for specific functions. Risk of soil degradation can derive from extreme natural events, such as long-lasting torrential rainfalls, causing e.g. erosion, inundations, landslides and further adverse effects. – Those forms of degradation are rather rare, compared to risks caused by human interactions, e.g. by different forms of intensive land use. Therefore, human activities can be regarded as the main causes of soil degradation risk (Blum, 2002). Risk of soil degradation is a result of the competition between the uses of different soil functions and the overuse of singular ones without sufficient control. Therefore, the questions arise: What are the main functions of soil and what are the risks of soil degradation? 2. The six main functions of soil Soils have at least 6 different functions for the social and economic development of humankind, which can be distinguished into three more ecological functions and three others, directly linked to human activities defined as technical, industrial and socio-economic functions (Blum 2006; COM(2002)179 final). The three ecological functions are: 1. production of biomass, ensuring food, fodder, renewable energy and raw materials. These well-known functions are the basis of human and animal life. 2. Filtering, buffering and transformation capacity between the atmosphere, the ground water and the plant cover, strongly influencing the water cycle at the earth surface, the gas exchange between terrestrial and atmospheric systems and protecting the environment, including human beings against the contamination of ground water and the food chain, see Fig. 1. These functions become increasingly important, because of the deposition of many solid, liquid or gaseous, organic and inorganic compounds, to which soils react through mechanical filtration, physical or physico-chemical
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