The Deliverable discusses the critical role of soil in supporting terrestrial ecosystems, agriculture, and global climate regulation. It highlights that a significant portion of European soils are currently unhealthy, which has far-reaching consequences, including risks to human health, the environment, and the economy. Soil degradation affects food security, water quality, climate change, and biodiversity. It also emphasizes the importance of soil monitoring in Europe to ensure sustainable land management, preserve biodiversity, and mitigate environmental challenges. Healthy soils are essential for agriculture, food security, and climate resilience. The European Union (EU) recognizes the importance of soil health in addressing the food needs of a growing global population increasing the need for improved soil monitoring. It also discusses the role of advanced remote sensing technologies in soil monitoring and mentions initiatives and projects focused on soil biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.
This Deliverable highlights the showcase in soil restoration and climate change mitigation that is aimed at developing soil essential biodiversity variables to test the capacity of current datasets and monitoring frameworks to provide relevant information on the distribution and future trends of key soil biodiversity variables. The development process also stakeholder engagement in the context of selecting essential biodiversity variables (EBVs). Two main approaches were used: a working group involving researchers and targeted meetings with institutional stakeholders. Key meetings were held with stakeholders from organizations such as the European Environmental Agency, the Joint Research Center, and German soil and biodiversity monitoring agencies. These meetings aimed to gather input and insights on the selection of EBVs. The stakeholder engagement process revealed three key points: i) the importance of using readily available and open data to ensure data continuity and promote transparency and accessibility (this includes data from sources like the European Soil Data Centre (ESDAC) and GBIF, as well as point data from the LUCAS sampling framework); ii) the need for diversity in modeling approaches, incorporating multiple data sources and levels of expertise (the goal is to showcase the potential use of existing information and allow various stakeholders to identify their roles in producing soil-based EBVs for different functions or ecosystem services); and iii) the importance of including climate and land use prediction data in modeling frameworks when possible. Overall, the stakeholder engagement process emphasized the significance of data accessibility, diverse modeling approaches, and the incorporation of relevant future data in the selection and development of essential biodiversity variables.
Furthermore, the Deliverable discusses the existing gap in the EU's legal framework concerning soil management and highlights the proposed Soil Monitoring Law as a comprehensive framework to address this gap. The outcomes of this Deliverable align with several EU environmental policy initiatives, such as the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, the Zero Pollution Action Plan, the Circular Economy Action Plan, and the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability. Finally, it proceeds with the selection of essential biodiversity variables (EBVs) for soil-related monitoring within the EuropaBON initiative. Three primary soil-related EBVs have been chosen: 'Functional Composition of soil biota' and 'Community Biomass of soil microbes' and ‘Taxonomic diversity’. These EBVs belong to the 'Community Composition' class within the 'Terrestrial' realm category.