The European Commission has launched an online public consultation on the development of a new EU soil strategy.
This is the last of a set of public consultations on different ecosystems delivering on the specific commitments in the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030.
According to the commission, healthy soils produce our food and raw materials, clean our drinking water, reduce flood risks and store huge amounts of carbon.
‘Our soils are degrading’
“They are essential for achieving the objectives of the European Green Deal, such as climate neutrality, biodiversity restoration, zero pollution, healthy and sustainable food systems and a resilient environment,” the commission added.
“Yet, our soils are degrading due to unsustainable management, overexploitation, climate change and pollution. For that reason, the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 announced the adoption of a new Soil Strategy in 2021.”
Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevičius said:
A quarter of our planet’s biodiversity is present in soil. This is literally a treasure under our feet, and our food and our future depend on it.
“We must equip the EU with a robust soil policy that will allow us to reach our ambitious climate, biodiversity and food security goals, and step up our efforts to manage soil in a way that it can deliver for people, biodiversity and climate.”
The aim of the new strategy will be to address soil – and land-related issues – in “a comprehensive way” and to “help achieve land degradation neutrality by 2030”, one of the key targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Other public consultations are taking place in parallel on ‘nature restoration targets’, on ‘Zero Pollution Ambition for air, water and soil’, on ‘Land Use, Land‑use Change and Forestry — review of EU rules’, and the new EU Forest Strategy.