Land take was the main topic addressed during the last Soil Expert Group meeting that took place on 9 September 2022. The group discussed a draft working paper presented by the Commission on the definition of land take and its repercussion on soil health and soil’s ability to deliver ecosystem services.
The working paper pools together a list of already existing definitions within EU Member States national legislation and EU law, identifying their specific strengths and weaknesses. The text also proposes different definition options for ecosystem services provided by soil, differentiating from natural and anthropogenic. The paper also suggests that the future Soil Health Law (SHL) could set requirements for MS monitoring and reporting on progress towards land take reduction targets and on the implementation of the land take hierarchy, despite national targets on net land take reduction and application of the land take hierarchy remaining voluntary according to the Soil Strategy. Some of the Member States provided feedbacks and comment on the proposed definitions.
For more detailed info you can visit the webpage of the soil expert group on the CIRCABC website here.