To improve the health of soils, MEPs voted to support efforts to monitor and improve the soil ecological status in the European Union (EU) by 2050.
The European Parliament adopted its position on the commission proposal for a soil monitoring law, the first-ever dedicated piece of EU legislation on soils, with 336 votes to 242 and 33 abstentions.
MEPs support the overall aim to have healthy soils by 2050, in line with the ‘EU zero pollution ambition’ and the need for a harmonised definition of soil health as well as a comprehensive and coherent monitoring framework to foster sustainable soil management and remediate contaminated sites.
The new law will oblige EU countries to first monitor and then assess the health of all soils on their territory.
National authorities may apply the soil descriptors that best illustrate the soil characteristics of each soil type at national level.
MEPs proposed a five-level classification to assess soil health (high, good, moderate ecological status, degraded, and critically degraded soils).
Soils with either good or high ecological status would be considered healthy.
Contaminated soils
Around 60-70% of European soils are estimated to be in an unhealthy state due to issues such as urban expansion, low land recycling rates, intensification of agriculture, and climate change.
“Degraded soils are major drivers of the climate and biodiversity crises and reduce the provision of key ecosystem services costing the EU at least €50 billion per year,” the commission said.
According to the commission, there are an estimated 2.8m potentially contaminated sites in the EU.
MEPs support the requirement to draw up a public list of such sites in all EU countries at the latest four years after entry into force of this directive.
EU countries will also have to investigate, assess and clean up contaminated sites to address unacceptable risks to human health and the environment due to soil contamination.
Costs must be paid by polluters in line with the ‘polluter pays’ principle.
Green Party MEP for Ireland South Grace O’Sullivan said: “Soil hosts more than 25% of all biodiversity on the planet, and is the foundation of our food chains, playing an essential role in supporting our day-to-day lives.
“This landmark directive will be the first time the EU legislates to protect this precious resource.
“We have strong protections at EU level for our air and water, and it’s about time we did the same for soil,” O’Sullivan added.
As the European Parliament has adopted its position at first reading, the file will be followed up by the new parliament after the European elections in June.