March 2009

Soil Thematic Strategy

Will the soil directive fall victim to the crisis?

Since the Czech Presidency has given the Council negotiations a new impulse, some countries have become worried that a blocking minority of 5 will not be enough to stop this Directive. It appears that the UK Finance minister has now started lobbying several Member States, such as Poland and Spain, who are supportive of the Directive to change their position.

Main argument: given the crisis we are in, we could never afford to clean up our soils. NGO actions in especially Spain and Poland but effectively in all Member States will be continuously needed, until the end of the Czech Presidency at least, to avoid the Soil Directive being put on ice again or even withdrawn.

EUROPEAN COMMISSION REPORT ON SOIL OUT NOW!


The European Commission recently made public a report on the relationship between soil and climate change (CLIMSOIL) which underlines the crucial role that soils can play in mitigating climate change. The report “Review of existing information on the interrelations between soil and climate change” and a press release are available at http://ec.europa.eu/environment/soil/review_en.htm