Current situation
The EEB has long been concerned with the lack of adequate protection for soil in the EU. European soils in the north and in the south are under threat from erosion, desertification, soil sealing, contamination, biodiversity loss and other imminent threats due to unsustainable use of soils and climate change. The European Union is now taking first steps towards a European soil policy.

What is the EEB doing?
Europeans are often not aware of the threat to our soils, as the degree and impact of destruction is not easily noticeable and soil degradation is a slow and, usually, unspectacular process. Raising the awareness of the public as well as environmental and other NGOs of this disregarded resource will be a major challenge.

The EEB has set up a working group on soil protection to work on the development of an EU soil policy, starting its involvement with a reaction to the Commission communication Towards a Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection. All EU institutions at that time strongly supported the Commission to take EU level action. Since spring 2003 the EEB has been actively involved in the technical working groups set up by the European Commission on contamination, erosion, organic matter, research and monitoring, and has taken part in the meetings of the advisory forum.

In November 2004, an international conference on soil 'Vital Soil' took place in The Hague , the Netherlands , which determined to a large extent the shape and format of the policy package for the Soil Thematic Strategy which the Commission then set out to develop. In July 2005, the EEB organised another expert level workshop to coincide with the public consultation round on the proposed policy package for soil, expected to start around that time.

The Commission finally published its proposal for a Soil Thematic Strategy including a Soil Framework Directive in September 2006. Although the EEB is strongly supportive of the Commission's move to legislate in this area, it is also highly concerned about the lack of substance, most importantly the lack of clear targets. More worryingly still, there is a serious risk that the little substance there is in the Commission's proposal will be further weakened in both the Council and the European Parliament.

The EEB is currently working with the European Parliament and the Council to not only avoid a further weakening of the Commission's proposal but to strengthen significantly the existing provisions as well as to add news ones such as environmental objectives and targets.

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	For more information, please contact: Pieter de POUS email: pieter.depous@eeb.org :