Policies for a Sustainable Use of the Soil Resource:

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Policies for a Sustainable Use of the Soil
Resource A Mediterranean perspective Luca
Montanarella EUROPEAN COMMISSION JOINT RESEARCH
CENTRE Institute for Environment and
Sustainability
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Policies for a Sustainable Use of the Soil
Resource

• National
• USA, Germany, United Kingdom, etc.
• Trans-national (regional)
• Alpine Convention
• Euro-Mediterranean Partnership
• EU Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection
• Global
• UNFCCC, CBD, UNCCD

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1935 US Dustbowl
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US Soil Conservation Act 1935

• Recognition of the problem
• Establishment of the US Soil Conservation Service
• Participatory approach with strong local
  partnership (Soil Conservation Districts)
• Establishment of technical guidelines
• Implementation of soil conservation measures
• Monitoring of results

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NRCS National Resources Inventory
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Threats to soil as identified in COM(2002) 179

• Erosion
• Decline in organic matter
• Soil contamination
• Soil sealing
• Soil compaction
• Decline in soil biodiversity
• Salinisation
• Floods and landslides

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Main functions of soils

• Food and other biomass production
• Agriculture
• Storage, filtering, and transformation
• Water protection
• Habitat and gene pool
• Nature protection
• Physical and cultural environment for mankind
• Archeology and cultural heritage
• Source of raw materials
• Peat, Sand, Clay,etc.

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European Soil Database WRB classification
http//eusoils.jrc.it
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PESERA Soil Erosion Risk Assessment
The Pan-European Soil Erosion Risk Assessment -
PESERA - is a process-based and spatially
distributed model to quantify soil erosion by
water and assess its risk across Europe
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PESERA Soil Erosion Risk Assessment
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Avg Annual Temp
Global Historical Clim Network
Model Spatial processing at 1km resolution
Pedo transfer rules (van Ranst, 1995)
soil type texture
Topsoil Organic Carbon Content (30cm)
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Topsoil Organic Carbon Content (30cm)
Model output
Aggregated results
Organic carbon content () in the surface horizon
(0-30 cm) of soils
National Soil Organic Carbon stocks (0-30cm) in
Gt
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Declining soil organic matter in S. Europe
74 of the land in southern Europe has a surface
soil horizon (0-30cm) that on average contains
less than 2 OC (3.4 OM)
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Soil Organic Carbon and Erosion Spain
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Soil Organic Carbon and Erosion Italy
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Global soil protection policies Synergies
between the 3 Rio Conventions
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Soil Erosion in Southern Europe - 1
Intensive olive cultivation (trees 580 years
old) near Sevilla Spain
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Soil Erosion in Southern Europe - 2
Olive trees on 15 deg slope in Andalucia, Spain.
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Cinque Terre National Park (UNESCO World heritage
Site)
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Monitoring terraced landscapes Cinque Terre
National Park
Sensor IKONOS-2 Acquired Nominal GSD Cross
Scan 0.91 meters Along Scan 0.87 meters Scan
Direction 0 degrees Nominal Collection Azimuth
289.7947 degrees Nominal Collection Elevation
70.59372 degrees Sun Angle Azimuth 149.1203
degrees Sun Angle Elevation 56.55503
degrees Acquisition Date/Time 2000-08-15 1017
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Monitoring the state of terraces by high
resolution satellite remote sensing
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LACOAST
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Project LACOAST
in coastal areas
Increase in build-up areas 1975-1990 Source EEA
2002
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Soil Sealing
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GENERACIÓN DE UN MAPA DE USOS Y COBERTURAS
VEGETALES DE 1956
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UNEP Atlas of our changing environment 2005
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Ecological corridors are fragmented by roads,
railways, dams, and urban sprawl, which partition
Natura2000 sites from other sites and ecosystems.
In addition to losses of habitats, species trend
to be isolated and therefore endangered.
Effect of artificialisation of land cover on
nature protection
Legend
Source EEA/Corine land cover 1990-2000/ Land
Accounts Project Provisional results
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Source Onorati P., di Gennaro et al. (1995).
Analisi dei cambiamenti nelle coperture delle
terre in Italia nel periodo 1990-2000 tramite
CLC nota preliminare. Documenti del territorio,
numero 55/2004, Centro interregionale di
coordinamento e documentazione per le
informazioni territoriali, Roma
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Towards a soil protection policy for the
Mediterranean

• Recognition of the problem
• Establishment of a soil protection strategy
• Participatory approach with strong local
  partnership
• Establishment of technical guidelines
• Implementation of soil conservation measures
• Monitoring of results