The European Environmental Bureau, a federation of over 140 environmental organisations from across Europe, has warned that soil deterioration and pollution is costing the EU €38 billion a year in lost production. The federation made its warning in a report, Soil: Worth Standing Your Ground For, published in Berlin last month.

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Upon releasing its report the EEB renewed calls for an EU-wide Soil Directive, which it wants backed by each member state to ensure soil is protected like other natural resources such as water or air. Commenting in the wake of the report, Richard Bardgett, Professor of Ecology at Lancaster University said, "There are few things that matter to humans more than their relationship with the soil; there are many examples globally of where people have mismanaged soil and it has led to the collapse of entire societies."

He revealed soil is the third largest global carbon pool, which in itself is reason enough to protect it, as soil’s ability to store carbon decreases with mistreatment. However, as a report released yesterday from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisations shows, across the world soil is being degraded at a time when production needs to increase to feed a growing population and environmental measures must be adopted to combat climate change.

European Environmental Bureau spokesperson Sarolta Tripolszky said almost ten per cent of Europe’s soil is completely sealed over. Tripolszky revealed member states such as Germany, the UK, and France, the EU’s agricultural heavyweights, have been blocking a Soil Directive as they argue it would increase bureaucracy, implementation costs and go against their national interests.

"In times of climate risk and growing world population soil becomes an increasingly important resource for food production and to maintain public health. Soil is also an invaluable asset in the fight against climate change," said Tripolszky. The EEB claims its proposed Soil Directive would not incur high costs as member states purport, and would actually reduce the overall costs to society.

2 million tonnes of topsoil lost in UK each year

The last major UK study of soil was conducted in 2009; it found soil erosion is jeopardising production and almost 2 million tonnes of topsoil in Britain is being eroded every year. However, since that time, no national study has been conducted to monitor the process. Research institutions claim that they are monitoring soils in high-risk areas, but they too want more to be done to protect this most valuable of resources.

Professor Jane Rickson, Professor of Soil Erosion and Conservation at the National Soil Resources Institute, Cranfield University explained, "It’s very important that we monitor soil quality; good quality soils function very well - they are able to deliver many different services, including production of food, fibre, fodder and so on, storage of water, carbon and nutrients, which are very important for production. They also function as a habitat. We need to know that those services are still being delivered by the soil over time."

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She explained that one gram of healthy soil can contain a billion organisms. However, she cautioned that "Poorer soils are prone to degradation processes which affect the soil’s ability to deliver these functions."

She said that although monitoring mechanisms are not in place nationwide to ascertain whether degradation processes are ongoing, scientists are now more aware of why erosion happens and what management practices can reduce degradation. However, she warned that action is needed to prevent erosion from occurring in the first place. Once soil is eroded, the process is irreversible; good soil takes thousands of years to replenish. Professor Rickson said, "We see erosion as an irreversible process."

Professor Rickson concluded that the more scientists are aware of soil quality, the more apparent it becomes that farmers need to work with the soil.

Professor Bardgett is currently studying the effect of plants in modifying soils’ properties, to improve their fertility for humans and increase their ability to sequester carbon. His Lancaster team has found clover is incredibly effective at this, though they are also experimenting with combinations of different plants to increase soil health and productivity. Bardgett said he hopes to apply his research to reversing soil erosion and combat greenhouse gas emissions. He said that with precision agriculture or crop breeding technologies his team’s work could potentially see yields maintained, without resorting to using non-renewable chemical fertilisers.

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