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European Soil Bureau (ESBN) > Current Activities

Support for the proposal for a Soil Framework Directive (COM(2006) 232)

(Oct 2010) Following on from discussion at the 2010 plenary meeting in Brussels, European Soil Bureau Network has sent a letter to the Hungarian presidency highlighting the support of the network to the Soil Framework Directive and their assistance if the Directive needs further adjustment. Find attached the letter (5/10/2010)

Working Groups 2008 - 2010

The ESBN has Working Groups oriented at day-actual topics. All working groups are established for limited periods. For practical and financial reasons the number of people in a working group are limited to ca 6 - 10. Membership of the Working Groups is principally free for members of the ESBN network, but all members should be willing and capable to do a job at home. Costs for meetings are generally paid by JRC. Costs for salary are paid by the members themselves. A member cannot be part in more than 2 WG's at the same time.

The working groups are expected to deliver recommendations for studies and projects to be done by the JRC. The Steering Committe has decided , in consultation with the leader of the WG, about the members of the 3 Working Groups:

WG 1: Working Group on Inspire and ESDAC

Description: The INSPIRE Directive became in force and it is decided to establish ESDAC. European Soil Data Centerwill not contain all the data itself. In the case users need data from ESDAC the system will online contact the national soil databases and draw information from there. It is needed to set up a data specification for the data to be included in the ESDAC. This specification should be in line with the present data available in the European Soil Information System and the data present at national level. The mandate of the group is the development of this data specification and support to JRC activities for ESDAC (soil action working plan for 2009).

Period: 2 Years

Leader: Marc van Liedekerke

Members:

WG2: Working Group on Soil Database Scale 1:250.000

Description: The previous Working Group 1:250.000 made an instruction for making 1:250.000 soil maps. Maps in the scale 1:250.000 are established for 5 areas in Europe. In the discussion around the Soil Directive, it became clear that a 1:250.000 soil map over Europe will be needed. The challenge is now to develop procedures to make a 1:250.000 soil map for the whole of Europe. If possible the results of the previous Working Group Digital Soil Mapping should be used. The mandate of the Working group is as follows:
- To evaluate the need to review the current manual of procedures to make a 1:250.000 soil data base over Europe with inclusion of Digital Soil Mapping Technologies to increase the quality of the maps, and to propose testing studies.
- To outline structure and process for the development of a full European coverage of 1:250.000 soil data bases.
- To define testing studies to use the 1:250.000 data bases to update the 1:1.000.000 data base.

Period: 2 Years

Leader: Josef Kozak

Members:

WG 3: Working Group on Delineation Priority Area at Risk.

Description: An important concept of the proposed Soil Directive is the establishment of Priority Areas at Risk. The Soil Information Working Group formulated criteria for delineation of these areas for the different threats. The challenge is to test the delineation out in different areas in Europe and to base the testing both on traditional soil data and soil data combined with Digital Soil Mapping methodology. The mandate of the working group is to evaluate the criteria proposed during discussions on the Soil Directive, and propose to the JRC further studies and projects to test the result of this evaluation.

Period: 2 Years

Leader: Stanislaw Bialousz

Members:

Output: Research Article "Definition of priority areas for soil protection at a continental scale" published online in Soil Use and Management .
Abstract: Resources for achieving better soil protection are limited and need to be effectively targeted. Spatial variability is high for soil types and related quality and for the risk of degradation because of the threats of organic matter decline, erosion, compaction and salinization. A framework is presented for mapping priority areas for soil protection based on assessing where there is greater risk of degradation and evaluating its acceptability. A conceptual model is proposed which links anthropogenic hazards, threats and the risk of degradation with soil functions. It is recommended that a set of test areas is defined according to dominant soil types, and the probabilities of changes to soil properties relevant to soil functions are then estimated. The risk of exceeding a particular degradation threshold within these test areas can then be assessed and assigned to risk categories to provide the basis for the identification of priority areas.

WG 4: Soil Awareness and Education.

Description:Establishment an action plan for the development of measures/programmes/initiatives to raise awareness of the importance of soil across European society (i.e. policy makers, general public, universities, schools, industry, etc.).

Period: 2 Years

Data (National Datasets)

This section provides access to National Soil Datasets. According to INSPIRE (Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe) principles, the average user may have easy access to European, National, Regional and local data sets. Towards this direction the European Soil Bureau Network and the SOIL Team members identify all the related data sets in various countries and provide the links to the data.
Data provided by ESBN members

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European Commission - DG Joint Research Centre
Institute for Environment and Sustainability
Contacts:
Marc Van Liedekerke(tel. +39-0332-785179)
Panos Panagos (tel. +39-0332-785574)