On 5th of November 2020 the European Commission has published the roadmap ‘New Soil Strategy - healthy soil for healthy life’. The public consultation is open until 3rd December 2020.
Soil is an essential ecosystem that delivers valuable services such as the provision of food, energy and raw materials, carbon sequestration, water purification, nutrient regulation, pest control, and support for biodiversity and recreation. In the EU, land and soil continue to be degraded by a wide range of human activities, often combined with other factors. In absence of a dedicated legislative framework, EU soil protection policy is shaped by the EU Soil Thematic Strategy and provisions in a number of other policy instruments, for instance, the Industrial Emissions Directive, the Environmental Liability Directive, the EU Biodiversity Strategy, the EU forest strategy and the Common Agricultural Policy. Now, with the new published roadmap the European Commission is stepping forward.
The European Compost Network (ECN) welcomes the publication of the roadmap on a ‘New Soil Strategy’ for Europe, as we are calling within our initiative on ‘Save Organics in Soil’ on a Soil Framework Directive. ECN will feedback on the roadmap and will actively follow the development on the ’New Soil Strategy’ in its dedicated Task Group on ‘Soil & Organic Matter’. We invite all our members to take part in the public consultation!
The roadmap on the ‘New Soil Strategy’ and the consultation can be accessed here.
Further info on ‘Soil and Land’ can be accessed on the Commission’s website here.