The Impact of Policy Instruments on Soil Multifunctionality in the European Union

Abstract

Abstract:Agricultural ecosystems provide a range of benefits that are vital to human well-being. These benefits are dependent on several soil functions that are affected in different ways by legislation from the European Union, national, and regional levels. We evaluated current European Union soil-related legislation and examples of regional legislation with regard to direct and indirect impacts on five soil functions: the production of food, fiber, and fuel; water purification and regulation; carbon sequestration and climate regulation; habitat for biodiversity provisioning; and the recycling of nutrients/agro-chemicals. Our results illustrate the diversity of existing policies and the complex interactions present between different spatial and temporal scales. The impact of most policies, positive or negative, on a soil function is usually not established, but depends on how the policy is implemented by local authorities and the farmers. This makes it difficult to estimate the overall state and trends of the different soil functions in agricultural ecosystems. To implement functional management and sustainable use of the different soil functions in agricultural ecosystems, more knowledge is needed on the policy interactions as well as on the impact of management options on the different soil functions.

Gap assessment in current soil monitoring networks across Europe for measuring soil functions

“…Soil protection is increasingly seen as an important element also in other EU policy sectors. The recent review by Vrebos et al (2017) clearly shows that EU policies influence soil functions both directly and indirectly. This has been taken into account in the soil pilot of the Mapping and Assessing of Ecosystem Services (MAES) project (MAES Soil pilot 2016).…”

Conflicting Values in Rural Planning: A Multifunctionality Approach through Social Multi-Criteria Evaluation

“…Thus, the fact that the demand for multifunctionality is diffuse may lead to an insufficient provision of certain goods and services derived from agricultural activity, such as those related to the conservation of the environment [24]. Also, given that rural land is a limited resource, it may be that public policies enhance certain functions to the detriment of others according to the development model chosen for it [25]. For example, the last reforms of the CAP aimed to enhance the environmental services of agriculture through decoupling subsidies from production and linking them to environmental preservation.…”

Pressures on soil functions from soil management in Germany. A foresight review

“…At the European level, better soil governance is not directly underway after the proposal for the Soil Framework Directive failed in 2014. However, soil protection is still a goal of the EU (European Commission 2013), and there are a number of EU policy instruments relevant for soils (Vrebos et al 2017;Glaesner et al 2014). Prominently, under pressure of the European Commission, the German government improved the implementation of the Nitrates Directive in 2017 by amending the fertilization law (Agra-Europe 2017)-a several-year-long process showing that policy is going into the direction of protecting natural resources, but with a strong opposing lobby.…”