{"id":114609,"date":"2024-04-10T20:20:23","date_gmt":"2024-04-10T18:20:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/?p=114609"},"modified":"2024-04-10T20:20:23","modified_gmt":"2024-04-10T18:20:23","slug":"european-parliament-vote-places-soil-health-on-shaky-ground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/fr\/european-parliament-vote-places-soil-health-on-shaky-ground\/","title":{"rendered":"European Parliament vote places soil health on shaky ground"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although the pr<\/span>oposal for a Soil Monitoring Law was passed,<\/span> i<\/span>n a <\/span>highly <\/span>disappointing <\/span>turn of <\/span>events<\/span> lawmakers<\/span> significantly<\/span> weaken<\/span>e<\/span>d<\/span> the <\/span>l<\/span>aw<\/span>, placing the future health of the EU’s soils on shaky ground<\/span>.<\/span> This is a <\/span>sad <\/span>development<\/span> and <\/span>a <\/span>missed <\/span>opportunity <\/span>to transform<\/span> the already weak proposal<\/span> into an effective tool for change.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/h4>\n

Healthy soils are crucial for overall ecosystem integrity, food security<\/span>,<\/span> farmers\u2019 <\/span>livelihoods<\/span> and<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>wider <\/span>society<\/span> \u2013 <\/span>yet<\/span> an estimated 60 to 70 % of EU soils are <\/span>in bad condition <\/span>due to human activity<\/span>. <\/span>Long overdue, <\/span>the <\/span>Soil Monitoring Law <\/span>has the potential to bring<\/span> degraded soil ecosystems<\/span> back to health<\/span> and give them the <\/span>same level of protection<\/span> that air and water already have<\/span> at EU level<\/span>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

T<\/span>he European Commission\u2019s proposal for a Soil Monitoring Law was already <\/span>alarmingly <\/span>feeble,<\/span> with strong governance instruments entirely missing<\/span>,<\/span> and<\/span> today\u2019<\/span>s vote<\/span> has not only failed to improve it but has <\/span>weaken<\/span>e<\/span>d<\/span> it further.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I<\/span><\/span>t is<\/span> absolutely<\/span> baffling<\/span> that<\/span> \u2013 in face of the triple climate, <\/span>biodiversity<\/span> and pollution crises –<\/span> a major<\/span>ity o<\/span>f<\/span> M<\/span>EPs decided<\/span> to <\/span><\/span>reject <\/span>crucial obligations related to the sustainable management of soils, <\/span>a binding timeline for the improvement of soil health and<\/span> requirements related to soil descriptors. <\/span>This <\/span>put<\/span>s<\/span> the EU’s<\/span> obj<\/span>ectiv<\/span>e<\/span> of<\/span> achieving <\/span>healthy soils by 2050 <\/span>on thin ice<\/span>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Caroline Heinzel, Associate Policy Officer for Soil said: <\/span><\/b>\u201c<\/span><\/span>It was painful to watch the European Parliament\u2019s plenary undermine the balanced compromise reached in the Environment Committee and adopt an incredibly weak position on the much-needed Soil Law. This decision is incomprehensible. With up to 70% of EU soils already degraded, urgent action is needed now<\/span>, but<\/span> the Parliament risks removing any actionable measures to effectively improve soil health. This not only delays necessary action but also jeopardises ecosystem integrity, food security and farmers\u2019 livelihoods. It will now be up to the Council to rise to the challenge and improve the law so that we can start on the pathway towards healthy soils in Europe.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Next up is the Council position<\/span>, <\/span>expected for June<\/span> this<\/span> year<\/span>,<\/span> wher<\/span>e<\/span> it will now be key t<\/span>hat the level of ambition is again ramped up.<\/span> B<\/span><\/span>r<\/span>i<\/span>n<\/span>g<\/span>i<\/span>n<\/span>g<\/span> s<\/span>o<\/span>i<\/span>l<\/span>s<\/span> b<\/span>a<\/span>c<\/span>k<\/span> t<\/span>o health is not optional \u2013 it is a prerequisite for<\/span> the success of the<\/span> European Green Deal.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Notes to editors<\/span><\/span><\/h4>\n

Summary of events<\/a> leading up to the vote and what the vote means in the wider context.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although the proposal for a Soil Monitoring Law was passed, in a highly disappointing turn of events lawmakers significantly weakened the law, placing the future health [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":114606,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,119,144],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-release","category-soil","category-homepage"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Trees-soil-erosion.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}