The European Council and Parliament have reached an agreement on the European Commission’s proposal to deregulate new GMOs. But farming, organic agriculture, and environmental organizations are calling for it to be stopped.
EU soil monitoring directive approved: what happens next
With the approval of the soil directive by the European Parliament, member states have three years to establish monitoring systems and promote solutions for sustainable soil management.
- The European Parliament has approved the Soil Monitoring Directive, which aims to achieve healthy soils across the European Union by 2050.
- To meet this goal, EU member states will be required to establish soil monitoring systems and promote sustainable soil management solutions.
- At present, it is estimated that 60–70 per cent of European soils are degraded due to factors such as urbanisation and intensive agriculture.
On 23 October, the European Parliament formally approved the Soil Monitoring Law, bringing to a close a legislative process launched in July 2023 with a proposal from the European Commission. This legislation recognises soil for the first time as a vital resource to be protected, on a par with water and air, with the ambitious objective of achieving healthy soils throughout the EU by 2050.
What the Soil Monitoring Directive provides for
The directive establishes a common EU framework for monitoring soil health. Member states are required to:
- set up monitoring systems to assess the physical, chemical, and biological condition of soils, using a standardised EU-wide methodology to ensure comparable data;
- identify potentially contaminated sites, including those affected by emerging contaminants such as PFAS, pesticides, and microplastics, and manage them to eliminate risks;
- adopt measures for sustainable soil management and for mitigating land take and soil sealing.
Member states will have three years from the entry into force of the law to transpose the new rules into national legislation. The goal is to improve soil resilience, manage contaminated sites, and counter soil degradation, which currently affects 60–70 per cent of European soils according to estimates. Degraded soils reduce the provision of ecosystem services such as food production, timber supply, carbon sequestration, pest control, and water regulation. The loss of these essential soil ecosystem services costs the EU at least €50 billion per year.
Threats to soil
Soil faces multiple and diverse threats, including erosion, flooding, loss of organic matter, salinisation, compaction, sealing, and biodiversity loss. Protecting soil will require action at various levels, including urban planning and agricultural practices. Healthy soils play a crucial role in ensuring safe food production and in mitigating climate change.
The state of soil in Italy
According to the latest Ispra report, in Italy in 2024 nearly 84 square kilometres of land were covered by new artificial surfaces, marking a 16 per cent increase compared to the previous year. With more than 78 square kilometres of net land take, this represents the highest figure of the past decade. Against just over 5 square kilometres returned to nature, the balance remains heavily skewed: every hour, around 10,000 square metres of soil are lost.
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