Costing the Earth: the Threat to Europe's Soils

It's no coincidence that the word "earth" is used for both the soil and the planet we live on. Soil is vital to supporting human life on earth. Soil is literally one of the foundations for our economic prosperity and our quality of life. All our human activities are somehow related to soil. Soil is an important habitat and gene pool - more than 5 tonnes of live organisms can exist in a hectare of arable soil. Natural processes can take more than 500 years to form two centimetres of topsoil- which is the most productive soil layer. But there's a growing threat to Europe's soils: Almost half the soil in Europe is damaged in one way or another. Which is why the European Union has decided to develop a strategy to protect soil, in the same way it protects other vital resources such as air and water. After more than six years of preparation and consultation, the European Commission put forward the strategy on 24 May 2006. Under a new European directive, each EU country will need to identify where soil degradation, in any of its forms, is occurring in their territory and draw up prevention and remediation programmes.

European Commission | May 17, 2006

Tags:. .topsoil. .centimetres. .somehow. .arable. .organisms