| Title: |
Overview of best practices for limiting soil sealing or mitigating its effects in EU-27
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| Resource Type: |
document --> technical publication --> book / book chapter(s)
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| Country: |
European Union
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| Year of publication: |
2011 |
| Availability: |
report, 200 pages
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| Author 1/Producer: |
Prokop G.
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| Other Authors/Producers: |
Jobstmann H., Schoenbauer A.
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| Author / Producer Type: |
Agency, regulator or other governmental or inter-governmental body
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| Publisher: |
European Commission, Luca M., Strassburger Th. (project co-ordination)
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| Format (e.g. PDF): |
PDF
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| Size: (e.g. 20mb) |
5
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EUGRIS Keyword(s): |
Brownfields
Soil-->Soil quality
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| Short description: |
Environment: Soil sealing in the EU threatens the availability of ecosystem services
Every year in Europe, soils covering an area larger than the city of Berlin are lost to urban sprawl and transport infrastructure. This unsustainable trend threatens the availability of fertile soils and groundwater reservoirs for future generations. A new report made public today by the European Commission recommends a three-tiered approach focused on limiting the progression of soil sealing, mitigating its effects and compensating valuable soil losses by action in other areas.
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| Long description: |
Environment: Soil sealing in the EU threatens the availability of ecosystem services
Every year in Europe, soils covering an area larger than the city of Berlin are lost to urban sprawl and transport infrastructure. This unsustainable trend threatens the availability of fertile soils and groundwater reservoirs for future generations. A new report made public today by the European Commission recommends a three-tiered approach focused on limiting the progression of soil sealing, mitigating its effects and compensating valuable soil losses by action in other areas.
Environment Commissioner Janez Potoènik said: “We rely on soils for some fundamental ecosystem services, and without them life on our planet would grind to a halt. We cannot afford to continue paving them over. This does not mean halting economic development or the upgrading of our infrastructures, but it does require a more sustainable approach.'
report proposes a three-tiered approach to address the issue:
Limiting the progression of soil sealing with improved spatial planning or by reassessing 'negative' subsidies that indirectly encourage soil sealing.
Mitigation actions to reduce damage when soil sealing cannot be avoided. These include using permeable surfaces instead of conventional asphalt or cement and building green roofs.
Compensation measures to partially offset soil losses in one area by measures taken somewhere else. These may take the form of payments, as in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, or the restoration of already sealed soil. Good practices have been identified notably in Dresden and Vienna.
The results of this report will feed into a Commission technical document on soil sealing, which is being drawn up with the help of national experts. The document will provide national, regional and local authorities with guidance on best practices for limiting soil sealing and mitigating its effects, and should be finalised in early 2012.
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Submitted By:
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Mrs Gundula Prokop WhoDoesWhat?
Last update: 02/06/2011
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