Soil protection is indispensable and must come through binding rules for both the public and private sectors. Only in this way can the goals set forth in the EuropeanGreen Deal be achieved.
A ray of light filters through the clouds in Brussels, thanks to the draft resolution adopted by a large majority by the European Parliament’s ENVI Committee on 4/16/21. (1)
Soil protection, the EU rules that are missing
Soil protection was already the subject of a European Parliament resolution, in 2014, to date with no feedback from the Brussels executive. TheEnvironment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee (ENVI) is back at it again and points out the anomaly of a European environment policy that protects air, water but not soil with uniform rules.
Soil protection, MEPs point out, ‘is fragmented into various uncoordinated and often non-binding policy instruments.’ The European Commission is therefore called upon to implement the common policy in this regard. With a focus on ‘agriculture, forests, water and waste management, industrial emissions and international trade agreements.’
Soils and biodiversity, free words
Soils hold 25 percent of biodiversity, planet-wide. They fulfill key ecosystem services, including carbon uptake and water purification, plant nutrition on which animal and human lives depend, and pest control. Soil integrity is also crucial for preventing floods and droughts. Therefore, the European goals of biodiversity preservation and climate neutrality cannot be separated from soil protection.
From words to deeds, it is worth mentioning that as early as 2019 the FAO has recommended that member states support organic farming or eco-agriculture with special measures, as it alone can protect soils and promote sustainable development. But the Parliament itself agreed that this would not happen, either in the ‘smoke gray’ reform of the 2021-2027 CAP or in the
Recovery Fund
.
Cementification and industrial agriculture
Parliament therefore calls on the European Commission to introduce concrete measures to prevent or at least minimize soil sealing, the primary causes of which are overbuilding andintensive agriculture. With specific regard, in the latter respect, to synthetic agrochemicals and nitrogen fertilizers. (2)
Minimizing sealing is also essential, in words, to achieve the goals of ‘no land degradation‘ by 2030 and ‘no net land consumption‘ by 2050. Goals so far from recalling those boasted on World Earth Day, 4/22/21, by Jair Bolsonaro. Deforestation in Brazil will end by 2030, perhaps along with primary forests.
New EU strategy on soils
The plenary assembly of the European Parliament is now expected to approve the draft resolution, which will then be forwarded to the European Commission, which, among other things, along with the Council, is expected to respond by June 2021 on a question of the same subject.
The new EU Soils Strategy, drafted in an initial outline, was put out for public consultation in November-December 2020. (3) It is therefore expected to be officially unveiled in the coming months. Ad maiora.
Dario Dongo and Alessandra Mei
Notes
(1) European Parliament, ENVI Committee. Draft motion for a resolution on Soil protection (2021/0000(RSP)). V. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20210412IPR01806/meps-call-for-better-protection-of-soil-to-reach-green-targets
(2) The latest annual report by ISPRA and SNPA on soil consumption in Italy shows that in 2019 alone, concrete devoured 57.5 square kilometers, an average of 16 hectares per day. V. https://www.snpambiente.it/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Estratto_Rapporto_consumo_di_suolo_2020-1.pdf
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
Graduated in Law from the University of Bologna, she attended the Master in Food Law at the same University. You participate in the WIISE srl benefit team by dedicating yourself to European and international research and innovation projects.
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