New assessment shows vulnerability of arable land
A first-ever assessment at European scale combines the threat of water, wind, tillage and harvesting to reveal the cumulative impact on arable land.
New analysis using a multi model approach assesses impact of soil erosion not only by water but by other drivers: wind, tillage conditions and crop harvesting. The study indicates that 43 million hectares (M ha) out of approximately 110 M ha of arable land in the EU and the UK are estimated to be vulnerable to a single driver of erosion, 15.6 M ha to two drivers and 0.81 M ha to three or more drivers.
About 3.2 M ha of arable land are vulnerable to the possible interaction of increased flood, drought, water, and wind erosion. The analysis, carried out by JRC scientists and EU Soil Observatory Working Group on Soil Erosion, is published in Nature Sustainability.
Worldwide, very few national survey programmes of soil erosion exist, examples being the US National Cooperative survey and the Chinese National General Survey Program on Soil and Water Conservation.
© EU, 2022
Erosion and soil policies in the EU
The new EU Soil Strategy for 2030 addresses soil- and land-related issues in a comprehensive manner, and underlines the importance of land degradation and the need for a methodology to better monitor land degradation in the EU.
This study provides information that will help to set up new monitoring schemes for soil erosion estimation, deploying soil-conservation measures and soil erosion mitigation actions.
The Mission A Soil Deal for Europe, funding projects to restore and protect the health of soils, will support the EU’s ambition to manage land in more sustainable ways.