Healthy soil impacts so much of our daily lives - from agriculture and food production to overall ecosystem health. Yet roughly 60% of soil in Europe is considered unhealthy.
ICLEI Europe is one of a number of organisations that has recently signed the Mission Soil Manifesto, speaking up for the importance of soil health and restoration in Europe.
The Manifesto, which was launched in April and will be celebrated at the upcoming European Mission Soil Week, is a key milestone in the EU Mission “A Soil Deal for Europe” and highlights the urgent action needed to protect Europe’s and the world’s soils, speaking to five main points:
- Why soils are essential,
- The need to restore them,
- Steps to halt soil degradation,
- Support to the Soil Mission 100 Living labs and lighthouses,
- Commitment to contribute to the protection of soils.
By mobilising various stakeholders, the Manifesto creates a community that actively cares for soil health, supporting collaboration and integration across different governance levels and sectors, raising awareness, fostering local knowledge, innovation and investment. The Manifesto aligns well with the key recommendations included in the ICLEI Soil Health Position Paper by promoting a whole-of-government approach and engaging local and subnational governments to preserve and restore soils.
Looking at how soil plays a role in the larger discussion of carbon emissions, if we continue emitting at 2022 levels, which comes up to 40 gigatonnes annually, this budget is set to be exhausted by approximately 2029. The capturing capacity of healthy soils can help expand the timeline. With this in mind, the recent Zero Pollution Talks: Zero Pollution and the Soil Monitoring Law debated the ambitions of the Soil Monitoring and Resilience Directive, proposed by the European Commission aimed at environmental and health protection.
Holger Robrecht, Deputy Regional Director at ICLEI Europe contributed, "The proposal does not align with the timelines set for these relevant commitments and underpinning strategies and processes at EU and international level, risking to disconnect and deviate on the way to soil health in 2050. Smart, action-oriented targets and an intermediate step to land degradation neutrality in 2030 will be important vehicles to continuous implementation."
Equally important, as local governments are at the forefront of action aimed at protecting EU soils, Robrecht emphasised that their role needs to be appropriately accounted for in such proposals. "Local and regional governments are not sufficiently represented. The current draft ‘Soil Monitoring and Resilience directive’ disregards the potential of local and regional knowledge to drive implementation and help achieve soil health. Soil is a local issue and there are many instruments and activities at the local level that can be integrated with and help make a consistent monitoring and assessment framework organised by Member States," he added.
Interested in supporting soil health? Become a signatory of the Manifesto or sign individually as a “Friend of the Mission Soil” here.
To learn read ICLEI’s Soil Health Position Paper, click here.