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Home > Soil Sealing and Land Take

Publication
Policy Brief
Agriculture
Cities
Land Use
Soil

Soil Sealing and Land Take

[1]

Despite the extensive loss of productive soils and the valuable ecosystem services that soils provide, the awareness of the magnitude and negative implications of these processes remain relatively low. In this RECARE policy brief, Ecologic Institute's Sandra Naumann and Ana Frelih-Larsen together with Gundula Prokop from the Austrian Environment Agency illustrate the scale of the problem and identify ready-made solutions and steps policy makers and practitioners can take across different levels, from city planning to national and European level. The RECARE policy brief is available for download.

Urbanisation is an ongoing trend in Europe leading to land take and soil sealing at the expense of agricultural land and other open landscapes. Systematic solutions are required to reduce the scale of land take and soil sealing. More specifically, an overall strategic aim and framework for sustainable soil management at EU and national level are needed, complemented by binding and quantitative land take targets and adequate financial and technical support at the national scale. Municipal spatial planning is one of the most important instruments to foster sustainable city development and highlights the importance of cities to guide this process. This also includes testing and deploying new approaches such as joint regional planning, Open Space concepts or the application of zoning concepts to protect the most fertile and valuable soils from sealing.

Attachments
  • PDF icon 2730_recare_soil-sealing_web.pdf
Main Link
Download: Soil Sealing and Land Take [pdf, 2 MB, English]
Ecologic Related Articles
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  • Updated Inventory and Assessment of Soil Protection Policy Instruments in EU Member States
  • RECARE Project – Finding and sharing solutions to protect our soils
  • Subsoil Compaction – A threat to sustainable food production and soil ecosystem services
  • Remediating Historical Soil Contamination
  • Preventing and Remediating Degradation of Soils in Europe – RECARE Final Policy Conference

Citation

Naumann, Sandra; Ana Frelih-Larsen and Gundula Prokop 2018: Soil Sealing and Land Take. RECARE Policy Brief. Ecologic Institute, Environment Agency: Berlin, Vienna.

Language
English
Author(s)
Sandra Naumann
Dr. Ana Frelih-Larsen
Author(s)
Gundula Prokop (Environment Agency Autria)
Credits

Layout: Arif Jensen (Ecologic Institute)

Funding
  • European Commission, Directorate-General Research & Innovation (DG Research & Innovation)
Year
2018
Dimension
8 pp.
Project
Preventing and Remediating Soil Degradation (RECARE)
Project ID
2730
Table of Contents

Summary
Introduction
Definitions of Land Take and Soil Sealing
Trends in Soil Sealing and Land Take
Drivers behind Land Take and Soil Sealing
Policy Intrumentsto Address the Issue
Success Factors to Increase the Impact of Policy Instruments
Recommendations
References
Acknowledgements

Keywords
soil management, agriculture, climate change, ecosystem services, soil functions, Cambridge, Nantes, Regensburg, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Vienna, Wroclaw, United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Austria, Poland, Europe, layout, design

Source URL (modified on 10/19/2018 - 09:42): https://www.ecologic.eu/15997

Links
[1] https://www.ecologic.eu/sites/files/presentation/2018/cover-recare-pb-soil-sealing-web_0.png