On the 5th, the European Commission proposed a draft \"Soil Monitoring Law,\" the first EU legislation specifically targeting soil health. However, the law focuses primarily on \"monitoring\" and lacks legally binding targets or mandatory requirements for restoring soil health, sparking widespread disappointment and calls for the Commission to be \"bolder\" in protecting soil health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first-ever soil law aims to restore healthy soils in Europe by 2050.
According to official data, 60-70% of the EU's soils are in an unhealthy state, with approximately 1 billion tons of soil lost annually, leading to a rapid decline in fertile topsoil. The cost of soil degradation is estimated to exceed \u20ac50 billion annually.
The EU stated that the \"Soil Monitoring Law\" aims to restore the health of all EU soils by 2050. The draft law will standardize the definition of soil health and establish a comprehensive and consistent soil monitoring framework.
According to Euractiv, EU Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius stated that healthy soils can enhance disaster resilience, achieve climate neutrality, restore biodiversity, and combat desertification. Previously, the EU lacked a soil law; now, soil will be protected alongside the air, water, and marine environments.
The EU says that collecting and sharing soil data will help farmers and landowners. They can take appropriate management measures based on soil health to improve soil fertility and yields and reduce water and nutrient consumption. Healthy soils can also help farmers and landowners generate additional income through, for example, carbon farming, the provision of ecosystem services, and increased value of agricultural products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Businesses and environmentalists condemn the insufficient ambition. When the European Commission proposed the EU Soil Strategy for 2030 in 2021, it originally planned to propose a Soil Health Law in 2023. This law would not only monitor but also restore degraded and contaminated land, and would consider setting legally binding targets. However, this time, the Commission only proposed a \"Soil Monitoring Law.\" Environmentalists believe that the EU's ambition for soil protection has been significantly reduced. Caroline Heinzel, Deputy Director of Soil Policy at the European Environmental Agency, bluntly stated that the proposal does not meet expectations. It contains neither legally binding targets nor a mandatory plan. According to an earlier Reuters report, the European Commission's conservative stance may be related to the recent repeated opposition from member states to the nature restoration bill. Although it lacks ambition, Sinkevicius defended the draft, calling it an \"important step.\"
The One Planet Business: Alliance for Biodiversity (OP2B), a group of companies including Nestl\u00e9, Danone and Unilever, pointed out that soil health is a cause for concern and called on the European Union to be \"bolder\" and provide adequate financial support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Source: Environmental Information Center (https:\/\/e-info.org.tw\/node\/237132)<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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