Assessing and analysing the impact of land take pressures on agricultural land

Abstract

Land, and here in particular soil, is a finite and essentially non-renewable resource. EU-wide, land 8 take, i.e. the increase of settlement area over time, consumes more than 1000 km² annually of which half is 9 actually sealed and, hence, lost under impermeable surfaces. Land take and in particular soil sealing has 10 already been identified as one of the major soil threats in the 2006 EC Communication "Towards a Thematic 11 Strategy on Soil Protection" and the Soil Thematic Strategy, and has been confirmed as such in the report on 12 the implementation of this strategy. The aim of this study is to relate the potential of land for a particular use 13 in a given region with the actual land use. This allows evaluating whether land (especially the soil dimension) 14 is used according to its (theoretical) potential. To this aim, the impact of several land cover flows related to 15 urban development on soils with a good, average and poor production potential were assessed and mapped. 16Thus, the amount and quality (potential for agricultural production) of agricultural land lost between the years 17 2000 and 2006 was identified. In addition, areas with high productivity potential around urban areas, 18 indicating areas of potential future land use conflicts for Europe, were identified.19 1 Introduction 20 21 Land use in Europe has changed drastically during the last fifty years, primarily in relation to the betterment 22 of human well-being and economic development, while unfortunately causing serious environmental problems 23 such as urban sprawl, soil sealing, loss of biodiversity, soil erosion, soil degradation, floods or desertification. 24The changes in land use can also be interpreted as changes in the resources, services and goods which soils 25 offer to us; moreover, the type of land use change varies among different types of regions. Smith et al. 26(2015) describe the effects of land use changes (increased change of agriculture to urban) on different 27 ecosystem services that are provided by soil decreased biomass and decreased availability of water for 28 agricultural use (provisioning services); decreased infiltration, storage, and soil-mediated water regulation 29 (regulating services); decreased genetic diversity (supporting service); and decreased natural environment 30 (cultural service).

Land recycling, food security and Technosols

“…Land take, is a phenomenon that mainly takes place in peri-urban areas [2] , areas that are associated with the highest quality soils for agricultural use [8,9] and the proximity food market. From 2000 to 2018 in EU28, more than 78% of occupied land affected agricultural areas, such as arable land and permanent crops (394.34 km 2 /year), pastures and mosaic farmland (212.44 km 2 /year) [12] .…”

“…Trend of rising population and number of urban settlements around the world increases pressure on land take [1][2][3] . Consequently, it is a challenge for coming decades, related to fertile soil conservation, provision of ecosystem services and biodiversity [1,2] . Mainly due to loss of fertile agricultural soils, compromising their role as biomass producers.…”

“…In addition, land take implies in most cases soil sealing for the expansion or development of new urban settlements [2] . Therefore, the loss of soil functionality and its ability to provide ecosystem services is further aggravated.…”