Beyond Monitoring: How are data of National Soil Monitoring Networks reported and verified? An overview of European countries

Soil health in Europe is a major policy concern, with approximately 62% of European Union soils being classified degraded [1]. In response, the adoption of the EU Soil Monitoring Law in 2025 has mandated systemic, national scale soil monitoring. The successful application of the law relies heavily on established national soil monitoring networks - infrastructures designed to track the spatial and temporal changes in soil properties in the European countries. These networks implement robust technical procedures, implicitly employing Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) frameworks: a concept often used in the private carbon markets spheres [2]. In the context of soils, MRV consists of a scientifically robust system to monitor soil and produce reproducible results (Monitoring), to support structured and transparent communication (Reporting), and to reliably verify the quality of results by independent experts (Verification). The soil monitoring networks represent a robust evidentiary baseline, capable of guiding the practical MRV framework implementation, where standardised procedures are currently lacking.

While Monitoring components applied by different European Soil Monitoring Networks have been well documented [3], operational details of Reporting and Verification procedures remain a significant knowledge gap. Our study contributes to closing this gap by classifying Reporting & Verification procedures applied by the national soil monitoring networks in Europe. We hypothesize that procedures exhibit both commonalities as well as cross-country variance driven by diverging national policy requirements and economic constraints. To test this, an online questionnaire was administered to coordinators and/or subject matter specialists of the corresponding national soil monitoring networks. We will highlight common bottlenecks in data verification or diverse reporting formats. Based on our results, we give recommendations to the soil monitoring networks to implement and complete the  Reporting and Verification procedures of the respective networks. This would be a stepping stone towards data harmonisation of reporting and verification procedures, supporting the implementation of the EU Soil Monitoring Law.

REFERENCES

 

[1]       European Commission, Joint Research Centre, European Soil Data Centre (n.d.) EUSO Soil Health Dashboard. Online: https://esdac.jrc.ec.europa.eu/esdacviewer/euso-dashboard/ (accessed 14.01.2026)https://esdac.jrc.ec.europa.eu/esdacviewer/euso-dashboard/

 

[2]           Batjes, N.H., Ceschia, E., Heuvelink, G.B.M., Demenois, J., Le Maire, G., Cardinael, R., Arias-Navarro, C., Van Egmond, F., 2024. Towards a modular, multi-ecosystem monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) framework for soil organic carbon stock change assessment. Carbon Management 15, 2410812. https://doi.org/10.1080/17583004.2024.2410812

 

[3]           Mason, E., Cornu, S., Arrouays, D., Fantappiè, M., Jones, A., Götzinger, S., Spiegel, H., Oorts, K., Chartin, C., Borůvka, L., Pihlap, E., Putku, E., Heikkinen, J., Boulonne, L., Poeplau, C., Marx, M., Tagliaferri, E., Vinci, I., Leitāns, L., … Bispo, A. (2025). Monitoring Systems of Agricultural Soils Across Europe Regarding the Upcoming European Soil Monitoring Law. European Journal of Soil Science, 76(4). https://doi.org/10.1111/ejss.70163