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The Need for Soil Information and Digital Soil Functional Mapping Activities: EEA Perspective

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The European Environment Agency (EEA) emphasizes the critical importance of timely and reliable soil information to support emerging soil protection policies. This document highlights the existing challenges in soil information infrastructure, exposes the lack of reporting obligations, and identifies the need for stronger coordination among institutions. It proposes an action plan for establishing a European Soil Information System through integrated monitoring and digital mapping strategies aimed at managing risks, enhancing soil management, and supporting sustainable land use practices across Europe.

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The Need for Soil Information and Digital Soil Functional Mapping Activities: EEA Perspective

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  1. The need for soil information and DSFM activities: the EEA perspective Anna Rita Gentile, Franz Daffner, Jaume Fons European Environment Agency European Topic Centre on Terrestrial Environment Digital Soil Mapping working group meeting Miskolc, 7-8 April 2005

  2. Background • Emerging soil protection policies need timely and reliable soil information. • Inadequate infrastructure for soil information delivery: • No reporting obligations on soil • Information owned by different institutions • Possibility to improve the situation • Better justification of requirements at European level • Stronger coordination/integration of existing networks (ESBN, EIONET) • Better specification in FP7 programme

  3. Existing networks • EIONET • Nominated by countries • Capacity building in member states • Focus on reporting obligations (moral) • Cover a broad range of environmental issues • ESBN • Network of centres of excellence • Providers of soil data & know-how • No own resources

  4. A step further • Steering the process towards a European Soil Information System • Combine capacities • Define an action plan containing • Objectives: information requirements • Definition of targets • Implementation: steps to Digital Soil Functional Map • Road map to targets

  5. Why soil information is needed? • Soil is a basis for human activities • Ensuring sustainable production of biomass • Spatial planning (e.g. Management of contaminated sites) • Transboundary issues • Tools for modeling and outlook (if...) • But, local component important

  6. Statistical information Soil monitoring (sensu stricto) Soil survey (basic information) • Environmental data • Land cover • Topography • Link to other media Impact • Soil media • Status Related information • Drivers • Pressures • Responses Soil Information System

  7. Information required for... • Covering as much as possible the eight threats • Answering relevant policy questions already addressed by the Commission • Making use of existing reporting obligations derived from other policies • Identification of hot spots • Being prepared for new issues

  8. Monitoring and information specifications • Linked to policy-relevant indicators and related data needs • Integrated with existing European monitoring and reporting activities (other media) • Tiered system • country • risk areas/regions of special interest • site-specific • Step-by-step implementation and harmonisation • Guidelines for national monitoring

  9. Soil information • Basic soil information. Soil survey should provide the baseline • Available resource • Characterisation of soils • Assessment of time related soil information (changes) • Evaluation of more dynamic properties • Element contents variation • OM • Nutrients • Heavy metals, pesticides,…

  10. Digital Soil Functional Map • Advantages • Interpreted data • Easy integration • Quality improvement (methodology) • Easy accessibility and transfer of information • Challenges • Too much expectations • Quality data source • Scaling problems: integration of different data sources

  11. Components of the Soil Information System • Basic soil properties • Soil type • Physico-chemical properties • Texture, bulk density, depth • Hydrological properties. Water permeability • pH, base saturaion, OM • Problem areas for different threats • Vulnerability • Risk • Hot spots

  12. Components of the Soil Information System (continued) • Soil functions/properties affected by different threats • Yield function (potential for agricultural production) • Buffering and filtration (pollutants, nutrients) • Regulatory function for water balance • Habitat, Rareness

  13. Example: soil sealing (urbanisation) Loss of soil resources by urbanisation • Type of soils  Soil survey • Extension? • Where? • Does it have an impact on agriculture? Intensification,… • Other functions (OM, filtration)  Land cover DSFM

  14. Work plan for 2005 • Action plan for soil information (EEA) • Rationale • Basic reference data sets • Information Services • Output. Report covering: • Information requirement specifications • Action plan for monitoring (technical options, organisational settings for monitoring) • Potential connections to other sectors • Input to DSM working group

  15. Where we are • Definition of EEA vision • Link to other EEA projects: • Neighborhood • Indicators • European Spatial Data Infrastructure • PRA.MS • New national expert at EEA

  16. Next steps • Digital Soil Mapping working group meeting. April • Outline of the report. Agreement on contents & contribution. May • Annotated index • Contributions • Schedule • Final report. November.

  17. Further work • Concept for DSFM • Consolidation of the methodology for DSFM • Integration with related data: link to indicators • Improving information exchange • Test at pilot areas, different scales

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