Legal roots for healthy soils: towards a (more) coherent legal architecture for soil restoration in the European Union

Soils are increasingly under threat. In Europe, there are 2.8 million potentially contaminated sites, and yet only a few have been remediated. Issues such as cadmium contamination, pesticide residues and mixtures of residues, mercury deposition, and excessive nutrient inputs, among others, all endanger EU soil health. Additionally, croplands and drained peatlands steadily lose carbon, while parts of European soils also suffer from erosion, compaction, and desertification.

The resulting environmental impacts (in relation to climate change mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity loss, pollution, etc) and effects on human health and wellbeing are profound, underscoring the urgent need to protect and restore soils.

Against this background, the question arises as to which initiatives the EU has undertaken to protect and restore soils. The answer, as is often the case, is not straightforward: while considerable (preparatory) work has been done, the results have been, unfortunately, fairly limited over the past two decades, as soils have largely been protected only indirectly through the action of instruments with a different scope. However, efforts have increased in recent years. In addition to the adoption of the Nature Restoration Law (NRL), which has significant implications for soil health, the EU institutions have recently reached a provisional agreement on a Soil Monitoring and Resilience Directive (SML).

The relevance of these instruments for European soils and the potential interaction between the Regulation and the Directive in relation to soil restoration raise several questions, which the proposed presentation will address and explore: What is the framework for soil restoration in the EU? What are the novelties brought about by the NRL and the SML concerning soil restoration? What obligations exist regarding soil restoration and the achievement of soil health? Are these sufficient? Will the NRL and the SML collectively assist the EU in meeting its international commitments and initiatives, such as the Land Degradation Neutrality goal?