The Soil Monitoring and Resilience Directive has been published and approved by the European Parliament.
After a long and demanding preparation process, the European Parliament approved the Directive on Soil Monitoring and Resilience on October 23, which was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on November 26.
The Directive allows the beginning of the construction of a common framework for monitoring soil health in Europe, with the aim of improving soil resilience through sustainable management, combating soil consumption, and managing contaminated sites, with the ultimate goal of achieving a good level of soil health in the EU by 2050.
The Directive is based on the understanding that globally healthy soils are the foundation for the availability of 95% of the food we consume, host over 25% of the world’s biodiversity, and constitute the largest carbon reservoir on the planet. Increasing negative pressures are leading to the rapid degradation of soils, disregarding the fact that soil is a limited resource that requires recovery efforts. In the European Union, it is estimated that over 60% of soils are not in good condition.
The Soil Directive was promoted in implementation of the guidance contained in the EU Biodiversity and Soil Strategies towards 2030, and it finally introduces a comprehensive regulatory framework dedicated to soil, filling the gap in the EU’s legal framework on soil compared to other key environmental sectors, such as water, air, and the marine environment, among others.
Although it does not set binding targets, the new framework establishes the European Soil Monitoring System as a fundamental step toward healthier and more resilient soils, which are essential for food security, clean water, and the environment.
The new European system can contribute to achieving soil degradation neutrality, understood as the balance between soil use that leads to degradation and actions for protection, management, sustainable use, and recovery of its functions. For this reason, it will be one of the main topics of discussion at the meeting of the Committee for the Implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and Drought, to be held in Panama from December 1 to 5.
Member States now have three years to transpose the new rules into national law. During this period, they will need to establish the system of Soil Districts and Units and begin implementing the main mechanisms. In particular, thresholds for key parameters must be defined, registers of potentially contaminated sites and the risk-based approach established, monitoring of emerging contaminants such as PFAS and pesticides carried out, as well as measures to implement the principles of soil consumption mitigation, with particular attention to soil sealing (covering the soil with impermeable material such as concrete or asphalt) and soil removal (removal of soil during activities such as construction), which are subject to monitoring.
For Italy, an important phase of work now begins to build the national system for managing monitoring, sampling, analyses, and the flow of information and data, also through participation in collaborative processes between Member States and the European Commission as foreseen by the Directive.
ISPRA, which supported the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security (MASE) throughout the development and discussion of the new regulation in the European Council, is engaged in providing technical and scientific support in collaboration with various national and international institutions and entities through participation in projects promoted by the SOIL MISSION.