Action 22004 - Soil Data and Information Systems (SOIL)

Supporting EU and global land and soil management and protection

Soil is a vital non-renewable natural resource that is fundamental to life on Earth. The processes that occur within the soil deliver ecosystem services and global functions supporting life above ground. Soil performs numerous ecosystem functions and services, ranging from the provision of food and fuel to nutrient cycling, water filtering and cleaning and carbon storage.

Information on soil is used in many EU policy areas such as food security, agriculture, soil protection, bio-energy, water, nature conservation, development policy, health and sustainable development.

The SOIL Action provides strong scientific and technical support to EU and international soil policies. It gathers, analyses and reports on global and EU policy-relevant soil information through the EU Soil Portal, the European Soil Data Centre (ESDAC) and its related networking and data collection activities in Europe. It also carries out modelling and scenario analyses to provide soil information to end users in relation to the major threats to soil identified in the EU’s Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection (erosion, decline of organic matter, compaction, salinisation, landslides, sealing, contamination and loss of soil biodiversity). The Action develops and provides scientific and technical support to the EC and UNCCD stakeholders on indicators and methods for integrated assessment of land degradation.

The Action supports policy-relevant global assessments and global multilateral agreements ratified by the European Community (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)) by providing data for food security, climate change, biodiversity and desertification. It represents the EU within the Committee of Science and Technology (CST) of the UNCCD. The SOIL Action is currently developing global information systems such as the Global Soil Information System (GLOSIS), the Global Soil Biodiversity Atlas, and the World Atlas of Desertification. ESDAC is being expanded towards a fully operational Global Soil Data and Information System as part of the EU’s contribution to the implementation of the Global Soil Partnership (GSP), which is coordinated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Specific objectives of the Action

During 2013 the SOIL Action will focus on the following overarching objectives: 

1. The maintenance and daily operation of the European Soil Data Centre (ESDAC) as a single focal point for all soil data and information in Europe.
2. The development of INSPIRE-compliant procedures and methods for data collection, quality assessment and control, data management and storage, and data distribution to Commission and external users.
3. Research and development of advanced modelling techniques, indicators and scenario analyses of the major threats to soil, as identified in the Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection.
4. Supporting other Commission services with scientific and technical information and assistance in negotiating both the Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection and the proposal for a Soil Framework Directive, and their subsequent implementation at Community and Member State level.
5. Extension of the coverage of the European Soil Information System (EUSIS) towards a fully operational Global Soil Information System (GLOSIS). GLOSIS will provide soil information to support the implementation of multilateral environmental agreements such as the UNFCCC, the CBD and the UNCCD, and will contribute to the Global Soil Partnership and the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Net Land Degradation (ZNLD) agreed by the UNCCD in 2012.

Main customers

• DG AGRI - Agriculture and Rural Development
• DG CLIMA - Climate Action
• DG DEVCO - Development and Cooperation - EuropeAid
• EEAS - European External Action Service
• DG ELARG - Enlargement
• DG ENV - Environment
• ESTAT - Eurostat
• DG RTD - Research and Innovation
• DG SANCO - Health and Consumers
• V.V. Dokuchaev Soil Science Institute
• FAO - The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
• EEA - European Environment Agency
• ICL - International Consortium on Landslides
• IPCC - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
• UNCBD - UN Convention on Biological Diversity
• UNFCCC - UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
• UNCCD - United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
• WHO - World Health Organization

EU Legislation and Documents supported by this Action

Further information

• JRC Project Browser – SOIL

Contact Info

Luca Montanarella - Tel.: +39-0332-785349 - E-mail: luca.montanarella(at)jrc.ec.europa.eu