THE JRC ENLARGEMENT ACTION Workshop 10-B Land degradation Robert J. A. Jones Luca Montanarella (eds.) 2003 EUR 20688 EN THE JRC ENLARGEMENT ACTION Land degradation Contributions to the International Workshop “Land degradation” 5-6 December 2002, Ispra, Italy Edited by Robert J.A. Jones & Luca Montanarella Soil and Waste Unit Institute for Environment & Sustainability Joint Research Centre European Commission Ispra, 21020 Italy 2003 EUR 20688 EN MISSION The mission of the Institute of Environment and Sustainability is to provide scientific and technical support to EU strategies for the protection of the environment and sustainable development. Employing an integrated approach to the investigation of air, water and soil contaminants, its goals are sustainable management of water resources, protection and maintenance of drinking waters, good functioning of aquatic ecosystems and good ecological quality of surface waters. 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 the following information. 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.int) EUR 20688 EN European Communities, 2003 Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged Printed in Italy The papers printed in the document may be cited as follows: In: Land Degradation in Central and Eastern Europe R.J.A. Jones and L. Montanarella (eds.). European Soil Bureau Research Report No.10, EUR 20688 EN, (2003), 324 pp. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg. COVER MAP THE EUROPEAN SOIL DATABASE VERSION 1.0: DOMINANT SOILS ACCORDING TO WRB (1998) EUROPEAN SOIL BUREAU RESEARCH REPORT NO. 10 Preface The Communication from the Commission “Towards a Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection” (COM(2002) 179) clearly identifies major threats to soils in Europe. One of the major threats identified is the increase of flooding and landslides due to soil degradation. The recent events in Central and Eastern Europe have further confirmed the urgent need for action in respect of an effective flood prevention strategy. In the Communication (COM(2002) 179) the current situation in EU Candidate Countries concerning soil degradation is described. This workshop aimed to gather more detailed information on the current situation in Candidate Countries concerning soil degradation. Country presentations focused on the eight major soil threats (erosion, decline in organic matter, contamination, sealing, compaction, salinization, loss of biodiversity and hydogeological risks (floods and landslides)) identified as a priority for Europe and reported on the current extend of soil degradation processes, driving forces, pressures and possible economic impact. Since several Candidate Countries are also parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), reference has been made in country presentations to this convention and to the way forward in implementing it at National level. At the regional meeting for the Northern Mediterranean, Central and Eastern European countries, held in Geneva 23-26 July 2002 in preparation of the first session of the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC), there has been an explicit invitation to the European Commission to explore the possibility of organising a meeting on soil protection and land rehabilitation in Europe in the context of UNCCD. This workshop intends to provide a prompt response to this request, providing a scientific input to the ongoing discussions on the implementation of the Convention in Europe. Luca Montanarella EDITORS’ NOTE We would like to thank all the contributors for their collaboration in the preparation of this manuscript and their ready acceptance of our editing. Their friendly co-operation was a great help to us. Robert Jones – Luca Montanarella EUROPEAN SOIL BUREAU RESEARCH REPORT NO. 10 Table of Contents Preface Section 1: Key note papers Land degradation – setting the frame 5 BLUM Winfried E.H. Implementation of UNCCD in Europe 9 DAVID Elysabeth The EU Thematic Strategy on Soil Protection 15 MONTANARELLA Luca EU activities in support of the implementation of the UN Convention to 30 Combat Desertification MORETTINI Marco EU Research on Land Degradation 37 SOMMER Stefan Land Degradation Assessment in Drylands : the LADA project 74 NACHTERGAELE Freddy O. Development of decision support tools in LADA: a case study for Ethiopia 89 SONNEVELD Ben and M.A. Keyzer UNCCD / ANNEX IV, BACKGROUND AND A SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES 130 YASSOGLOU Nicholas Section 2: Country reports Some Aspects of the Present Status of Land Degradation in Bulgaria 149 S. ROUSSEVA, M. BANOV, N. KOLEV LAND DEGRADATION IN CROATIA 165 BASIC Ferdo DEGRADATION OF SOILS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC 177 Josef Kozák, Luboš Borůvka, Jan Němeček THE PROBLEMS OF LAND DEGRADATION AND DESERTIFICATION 193 IN SOUTH CAUCASUS T.Urushadze, A.Urushadze LAND DEGRADATION IN HUNGARY 198 Erika MICHÉLI , György VÁRALLYAY, László PÁSZTOR, József SZABÓ LAND DEGRADATION MEASURES IN LITHUANIA 207 BUIVYDAITE Vanda V. and PIVORIUNAS Danielius LAND DEGRADATION IN POLAND 225 Szymon Szewrański, Józef Sasik, Romuald Żmuda SYNTHESIS OF THE NATIONAL STRATEGY TO COMBAT DESERTIFICATION, 240 LANDS DEGRADATION AND DROUGHT IN ROMANIA KLEPS Christian SOILS AND SOIL DEGRADATION IN THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC 255 BIELEK Pavol LAND DEGRADATION IN SLOVENIA 290 F. Lobnik, B. Vrščaj, T. Prus LAND DEGRADATION IN TURKEY 303 S. Kapur, E. Akça, D.M. Özden, N. Sakarya, K.M. Çimrin, U. Alagöz, R. Ulusoy, C. Darıcı, Z. Kaya, S. Düzenli, H. Gülcan Section 3: Conclusions and recommendations RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS 319 Section 4: Participants List of participants 322 Section 1: Key note papers Section 1: Key note papers Land degradation – setting the frame 5 BLUM Winfried E.H. Implementation of UNCCD in Europe 9 DAVID Elysabeth The EU Thematic Strategy on Soil Protection 15 MONTANARELLA Luca EU activities in support of the implementation of the UN Convention to 30 Combat Desertification MORETTINI Marco EU Research on Land Degradation 37 SOMMER Stefan Land Degradation Assessment in Drylands : the LADA project 74 NACHTERGAELE Freddy O. Development of decision support tools in LADA: a case study for Ethiopia 89 SONNEVELD Ben and M.A. Keyzer UNCCD / ANNEX IV, BACKGROUND AND A SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES 130 YASSOGLOU Nicholas 4 LAND DEGRADATION Setting the frame by Winfried E.H. Blum, Institute of Soil Research, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria Land is more than soil and comprises topography (landscape), soil cover, as well as aquatic elements as for example small lakes and rivers, which exist on land. Soil is an important part of land, but not equal to land. - In view of land degradation, the terms "land" and "soil" will be used synonymously, because degradation processes are affecting both targets in nearly the same way. Land and soil degradation means loss of land and soil or of land and soil functions, see fig. 1. Figure 1: THE SIX MAIN FUNCTIONS OF LAND AND SOIL 5 Losses of land and soil are mainly due to sealing or excavation, which means irreversible losses of multifunctional land and soil surfaces for at least 100 years or about 4 human generations. Losses of land and soil functions are due to compaction, erosion, the decline in organic matter, contamination, salinization, loss of biodiversity and hydro-geological risks, such as floods and landslides, because under these conditions, land and soil can still fulfil important functions but only in a reduced way. – Therefore, losses of land and soil functions have negative impacts on the production of biomass, the capacity of soils to filter, buffer and transform between the soil and the atmosphere, the atmosphere and the hydrosphere, as well as between soil and plant cover, thus reducing the protection of the ground water (drinking water) and of the food chain. Moreover, losses of soil functions can reduce the capacity of soil to act as a gene reserve (biodiversity) and its function as a protective medium for archaeological and paleontological remnants. The driving forces behind the processes of land and soil degradation can be cultural, social, economic, technical and ecological ones, and range from world, over regional to local levels, with different dimensions of time, see fig. 2. Cultural, Social and Economic Ecological, Technical Driving Forces DIMENSION Driving Forces OF SPACE Climate change, GATT (WTO) change in economic and biodiversity social theories, property rights, World price of energy Macroclimate altitude, topography, Market conditions, biodiversity, transport systems, Country /Region soil distribution pattern, social security, technical infrastructure educational systems Microclimate, Land tenure, Farm, Household topography, family structure, soil quality, family income, water resources, health care biodiversity Short,medium- and W.E.H. BLUM, 2000 long-term temporal scales Figure 2: LAND AND SOIL DEGRADATION THE DIMENSIONS OF SPACE AND TIME Therefore, the assessment of the state of soil and land degradation and its classification into different categories alone, is not meaningful, because we need to know exactly why and how the state has happened, which means what are the pressures and the driving forces behind on one side, and on the other side we need to know the direct and indirect impacts of the state and the answer,