Value of Soil Biodiversity: European policies and raising awareness

The necessity for a coherent approach to soil protection has become more recognised within the European Commission over recent years. This recognition led to the protection of soil being introduced as one of the thematic strategies to be developed within the Commission’s 6th Environment Action Programme due to soils being recognized as “a fundamental environmental compartment performing vital ecological, social and economic services”. The soil biota is responsible for performing many of these services and there is increasing evidence that it is increasingly under threat and in some cases already in decline. However, there is still a considerable lack of knowledge regarding the belowground biota when compared to aboveground ecosystems. Due to this lack of knowledge regarding the interactions between soil biodiversity and ecosystem services it is not yet possible to predict with confidence the impacts of declining soil biodiversity.JRC.DDG.H.7-Land management and natural hazard