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Land Degradation and Desertification: Assessment, Mitigation and Remediation pp 15–23Cite as

Moving Ahead from Assessments to Actions: Could We Win the Struggle with Soil Degradation in Europe?

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Abstract

The EU Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection has identified eight major threats to European soils. They include erosion, organic matter decline, compaction, salinisation, landslides, contamination, sealing and biodiversity decline. Yet a Framework Directive for Soil Protection as a legally binding document for all the EU member states has to become reality. This chapter emphasises the importance of soil functions and services in support of Europe’s agricultural productivity and environmental sustainability. It draws conclusions also on the elaborated available soil legislation in the EU and explores the linkages between policy measures, implied agricultural soil conservation practices and soil degradation processes. It also emphasise the needs for additional soil research and awareness activities throughout Europe to further support soil conservation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Environment and Sustainability, European Commission, Joint Research Centre, I-21020, Ispra, VA, Italy

    Luca Montanarella

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  1. Luca Montanarella
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Correspondence to Luca Montanarella .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Mediterranean Agronomic Studies, (CIHEAM), International Centre for Advanced, Via Ceglie 9, Bari, 70010, Italy

    Pandi Zdruli

  2. Sperimentazione in Agricoltura, Centro di Ricerca per Agrobiologia e la, Consiglio per la Ricerca e la, Piazza D'Azeglio 30, Firenze, 50121, Italy

    Marcello Pagliai

  3. Dept. Soil Science &, Archaeometry, University of Cukurova, Adana, Turkey

    Selim Kapur

  4. Depto. Ciencia y Tecnología Agraria, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Paseo Alfonso XIII 52, Cartagena, 30203, Spain

    Angel Faz Cano

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Montanarella, L. (2010). Moving Ahead from Assessments to Actions: Could We Win the Struggle with Soil Degradation in Europe?. In: Zdruli, P., Pagliai, M., Kapur, S., Faz Cano, A. (eds) Land Degradation and Desertification: Assessment, Mitigation and Remediation. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8657-0_2

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