A 1 billion euro mission: A Soil Deal for Europe

Abstract

Soils have achieved prominence in the political agenda of the European Commission with the proposal for a Soil Monitoring Law and the ambitious Soil Mission research framework. The EU Soil Observatory (EUSO) used the latest state￢ﾀﾐof￢ﾀﾐthe￢ﾀﾐart pan￢ﾀﾐEuropean datasets to propose a preliminary assessment of soil health in the EU based on 18 soil degradation proxy indicators. The body of knowledge will soon be enriched thanks to the investment of 1￢ﾀﾉbillion euros towards the Mission ￢ﾀﾘA Soil Deal for Europe￢ﾀﾙ, which has the ambition to promote the development of new harmonized bottom￢ﾀﾐup and top￢ﾀﾐdown soil health indicators. New data and knowledge are also anticipated through the national soil monitoring schemes to support the implementation of the Soil Monitoring Law. We present the Soil Mission roadmap towards assessing and achieving soil health in the EU by 2030 to meet Green Deal objectives. We introduce the EUSO Soil Health Dashboard, a soil degradation indicator tool using soil health indicators developed by the European Soil Data Centre (ESDAC) (2012￢ﾀﾓ2023) that will contribute to Soil Monitoring Law assessments.