Soil sealing, where impenetrable material covers an area of land, is one of the principal causes of soil degradation in the EU. The European Commission has this week drawn up guidelines on best practice to limit, mitigate and compensate for soil sealing.

Soil sealing impacts on biodiversity, increases the risk of flooding and potentially contributes to water scarcity and global warming, removing soils’ ability to trap carbon or drain water. The new guidelines call for the use of permeable materials and smarter planning laws to preserve soils.

In February, the Commission revealed that, in two reports on European soils, soil degradation and soil sealing had been shown to cost the EU at least 275 hectares of soil per day, amounting to 1,000 km² per year, between 1990 and 2006.

Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik today said, "The loss of soil resources through urbanisation and the conversion of our landscape is one of the major environmental challenges Europe is facing. There is an urgent need to use this valuable resource more wisely, in order to secure its many vital services for future generations. We simply cannot pave over our chances for a sustainable future."

Soil scientists view healthy soil, which takes thousands of years to build up, as non-renewable. There are concerns that, unless soil degradation is addressed, huge tracts of soils in the world’s most urbanised continent could be lost. Policy makers have begun to appreciate the threat posed by environmental degradation on such a large scale and have introduced the concept of ‘ecosystem services’, which take into account the financial and cultural benefits provided by the natural environment.

The Commission recommends building on brownfield sites before greefield, regenerating abandoned industrial areas, using permeable materials in place of cement and asphalt, supporting ‘green infrastructure’, enhancing soils elsewhere as a compensation and making use of water harvesting systems.

It is reviewing its existing infrastructure development programmes to reduce any schemes that may be incentivising unsustainable growth. The guidelines will be discussed at a conference organised by the Commission next month and published in a range of languages this year.

In response to the alarming revelations about soil degradation in Europe and the pressures brought by climate change and population increases between now and 2050, there have been calls for the bloc to adopt a Soil Framework Directive, for which the Commission said it is drawing up proposals. It also said it is on-track to forming a policy that will take into account direct and indirect land use change caused by its decisions and is working towards a no net land take position by 2050.

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