Mr. Panos Panagos, European Commission, Italy. Global Symposium on Soil Erosion (GSER19), 15 - 17 May 2019 at FAO HQ.

1. The European Commission’s science
and knowledge service
Joint Research Centre

2. Impact of policies on soil erosion in
European Union
Panos Panagos
Pasquale Borrelli, Cristiano Ballabio, Emanuele Lugato, Luca Montanarella
Global Soil Erosion Symposium
FAO, May 15-17, 2019

3. Soil Biodiversity loss
Sealing
Erosion
Decline of
Soil Organic Matter
Salinization Compaction
Landslides
Contamination
Soil Threats
Policy: Soil Thematic Strategy(2006)

4. The report ‘The implementation of the Soil Thematic Strategy and on-going
activities’ (Jones et al., 2012) stated that 20% of Europe’s land surface is
subject to erosion rates above 10 t ha-1 yr-1
1990 2012
*
Limitations
• Spatial resolution
• Land planning
• Static land uses
• Crop systems
• Conservation practices (CAP)
• Coupled modelling
WHAT
Erosion in Europe: State-of-the-art 2012

5. Data collection from Member States
Panagos et al. (2014), Soil Science & Plant Nutrition
 Only 8 countries provided data
 Harmonization problems:
• Different input parameters: CORINE
2000 vs. CORINE 2006
• Different periods covered: Map of
2000 vs. map of 2006
• The case of Italy (9 regions)
 No dynamic layers
 No scenarios, etc
All countries are using (R)USLE model

6. Methodologies: RUSLE2015 New soil erosion model
Panagos et al. (2015) – Environmental Science & Policy

7. Soil Loss by water erosion
Average EU-28: 2.4 t ha-1 yr-1 (in the erosive prone areas: 91% of
EU)
Total Soil loss: 970 Mt annually
Data produced for years: 2000 – 2010 – 2012 – 2015
Mean erosion rate in agricultural areas: 3.2 t ha-1 yr-1
Soil formation rate: 1.4-2.0 t ha-1 yr-1
24% of EU lands have rates >2 t ha-1 yr-1
11% of total area contributes to almost 70% of total Soil Loss
2000-2012: decrease by 9% in erosion rates
• 1/3 due to increase of forestlands (decrease of croplands)
• 2/3 due to change of management practices (proposed by GAEC,
Soil Thematic Strategy)

8. Soil erosion indicators & policy support
UN Sustainable Development Goals
DG AGRI: CAP context Indicator
CAP post 2020
Impact Assessment
European Parliament
Greens group report
DG ENV-
DG ESTAT
DG ESTAT:
Regional stats
DG AGRI: EU
Agricultural
Outlook
UNEP IPBES
Panagos & Katsogiannis 2019. Environmental Research. 470-474

9. 2003 cross-compliance
Farmer received an income
aid, on condition that they
respect strict food safety,
environmental and animal
welfare standards.
Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)
(EC) No 1306/2013
GAEC (Good Agricultural and
Environmental Conditions)

10. Indicators for policy : Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)
Data calculated using RUSLE Model. EU, National and regional data: 2012 (CLC2012).
Corine Land Cover classes: Total agricultural area (12-22 and 26), Arable and permanent crop area (12-17 and 19-22), Permanent
meadows and pasture (18, 26).
Soil erosion by water Agricultural areas at risk of soil erosion by water
2012 2012 2012
Country Tonnes/ha/year
Estimated (ha) agricultural area affected by
moderate to severe water erosion (>11 t/ha/yr)
Estimated (%) agricultural area affected by
moderate to severe water erosion (>11 t/ha/yr)
Total
agricultural
area
Arable and
permanent
crop area
Permanent
meadows
and pasture
Total
agricultural
area
Arable and
permanent
crop area
Permanent
meadows
and pasture
ha % of total area in each category
EU-28 2.40 14137.2 12025.5 2111.8 6.7 7.5 4.2
BE 1.22 6.9 6.5 0.4 0.4 0.5 0.1
BG 2.03 204.7 191.6 13.1 3.3 3.6 1.6
CZ 1.62 65.7 63.2 2.5 1.5 1.7 0.3
DK 0.50 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
DE 1.18 286.9 242.7 44.2 1.4 1.7 0.7
EE 0.21 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
IE 1.12 14.7 6.7 8.0 0.3 0.8 0.2
EL 4.19 657.9 607.4 50.5 10.7 12.1 4.4
ES 3.73 2633.1 2381.2 251.9 9.6 10.5 5.3
FR 2.25 973.3 679.5 293.8 2.9 2.8 3.0
HR 3.03 238.7 183.2 55.5 9.4 9.2 10.4
IT 8.35 5574.1 5043.6 530.6 32.7 33.0 29.4
CY 2.94 33.5 33.4 0.1 7.2 7.6 0.4
LV 0.33 0.2 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
LT 0.49 0.6 0.6 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
LU 2.08 4.7 4.5 0.2 3.4 4.5 0.5
HU 1.57 166.3 162.4 3.9 2.6 3.0 0.4
MT 6.00 1.5 1.5 0.0 9.6 9.6 0.0
NL 0.27 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
AT 7.32 690.6 243.7 446.9 21.0 12.2 34.3
PL 0.93 258.0 257.0 1.0 1.4 1.6 0.0
PT 2.21 231.8 229.9 1.9 5.4 5.6 1.1
RO 2.86 1373.2 1248.0 125.2 9.7 11.2 4.1
SI 7.41 306.9 242.4 64.4 42.4 41.2 47.4
SK 2.12 158.9 152.1 6.8 6.8 7.4 2.4
FI 0.05 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
SE 0.39 13.2 12.3 0.9 0.3 0.3 0.2
UK 2.07 241.2 31.2 210.0 1.6 0.5 2.5

11. Soil erosion indicators & SDGs
UN Sustainable Development Goals
The EU land affected by the risk of severe
soil erosion is decreasing from 6.0% to
5.2% between 2000 and 2012.
The main reason for this decrease is the
mandatory cross-compliance measures in
the EU Common Agricultural Policy
(CAP).
Published
31.1.2019

12. • Article 6 (Specific Objectives)
• The achievement of the general objectives shall be pursued through the following specific objectives:
 a) support viable farm income and resilience across the Union to enhance food security;
 b) enhance market orientation and increase competitiveness, including greater focus on research, …
 c) improve the farmers' position in the value chain;
 d) contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation, as well as sustainable energy;
 e) foster sustainable development and efficient management of natural
resources such as water, soil and air;
• Article 12
Obligations of Member States relating to Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition (GAEC)
Member States shall ensure that all agricultural areas including land which is no longer used for production
purposes, is maintained in good agricultural and environmental condition. Member States shall define, at
national or regional level, minimum standards for beneficiaries for good agricultural and environmental
condition of land in line with the main objective of the standards……………
• Article 60 (Types of intervention)
(i) soil conservation, including the enhancement of soil carbon;
……………
Soil in the proposal COM(2018) 392
Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) 2021-2027

13. CAP objectives and indicators related to "soil"
1. EU Specific objectives
2. EU Impact indicators (I)
• Foster sustainable development and efficient management of natural resources such as
water, soil and air
• Contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation
• GAEC 2: Protection of carbon-rich soils (protection of wetland and petland)
• GAEC 3: Maintenance of soil organic matter (ban on burning arable stubble..)
• GAEC 6: Minimum land management (Tillage management reducing the risk of soil degradation including slope consideration)
• GAEC 7: Protection of soils in winter (No bare soil in most sensitive period….cover crops)
• GAEC 8: Preserve soil potential (crop rotation)
• I.13 Reduce soil erosion: "Percentage of land in moderate and severe soil erosion on
agricultural land"
• I.11 Enhance carbon sequestration: "Increase the soil organic carbon"
3. EU Result indicators (R)
• R.18 Improving soils: Share of agricultural land under management commitments beneficial for
soil management
• R.14 Carbon storage in soils and biomass: Share of agricultural land under commitments to
reducing emissions, maintaining and/or enhancing carbon storage (permanent grassland, ..
agricultural land in peatland, forest, etc.)
Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition (GAEC)
Monitoring performance of the CAP vs. objectives:
Indicators related to "soil"

14. Low erosive High erosiveMedium erosive
Crop distribution – Management practices
Reduced
Tillage
Plant
Residues
Cover
Crops
Stone
walls
Grass
margins
Contour
farming
-65% -12% -20% -25% -10-15%(density) -40% - 5%(slope)
Modelled Management practices against erosion
Permanent
Grasslands
Other fodder
areas (Alfa,etc)
Wheat,
Barley
Olives, other
Fruits..
Energy crop,
sunflower
Sugar beets,
Potatoes
Maize,
Tobacco
0.05 0.15 0.20 0.22-0.25 0.30 -0.32 0.35 0.38 0.50

15. Scenario analysis (2030) & uncertainties
Two “unknown” factors:
Rainfall intensity is projected
to increase by 18% by 2050
Impact of policies in changing
Agricultural Management practices
• Cover Crops
• Reduced Tillage
• Plant residues
• Grass margins
• Contour farming
• Stone walls
• Agroforestry, etc…..

16. Status of Global Soil Resources
“…the most likely range of global soil erosion
by water is 20–30 Pg yr-1”
“Over the last decade, the figures published for water erosion
range over an order of magnitude of ca. 20 Pg yr-1 (billion
tones) to over 200 Pg yr-1”
FAO & ITPS. 2015
The FAO and the Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils in 2015 have completed the first State of the
World’s Soil Resources Report.
The majority of the world’s soil resources are in only fair, poor or very poor condition
Globally soil erosion was identified as the gravest threat, leading to deteriorating water quality in developed
regions, lowering of crop yields in many developing regions.
The quality of soil information for policy formulation must be improved – the regional assessments in the State
of the World’s Soil Resources Report frequently base their evaluations on studies from the 1990s based on
observations made in the 1980s or earlier.

17. Need of new spatially explicit information: GLASOD approach can be much improved taking
into account today’s technological advances can build upon
- 15 times more literature than 1980
- Quasi-daily satellite information
- Computation capacity
- Exponential increase of digital resources
- Harmonized databases (e.g Land Parcel Identification
System, FAO Statistics, etc)
Sinergise
Spatial Assessment of Soil Erosion. Where do We Stand?

18. Global Soil Erosion
Borrelli et al. 2017. Nature Communications. 8(1): 2013
High resolution: 250 x 250 grid
Coverage: 202 countries ≈ 125 106 Km2 (84% of earth surface)
35.9 Pg yr-1 (Billion tons) of soil erosion (2012)
Global Soil Erosion
• 4 Million Km2 change land
use between 2000-2012
• Increase of total erosion
by 2.5% due to decrease
in forestlands
• Africa has the highest
increase (8%) followed
by South America and
South East Asia
• Focus in croplands:
17−0.7
+1
Pg yr-1
• Croplands are 11.2% of
study and are responsible
for 50.5% of soil erosion

19. A study which is more than a map or
a model ….
• Annual cost to global GDP is 8 billion
US$
• Global agri-food production is
reduced by 33.7 million tonnes
• Most affected countries are located in
South-East Asia and the Caribbean
• Single African countries suffer
production losses (Cameroon, Cote
d'Ivoire, Ghana and Ethiopia, Nigeria,
Ethiopia, Madagascar and Rwanda)
• Land demand increases by about
223,000 km2
(like the area of the
UK)
• Abstracted water volumes are driven
upwards by an estimated 48 billion
m3
Marginal absolute changes in agri-food
production (million tonnes)
More Info: Presentation on Thursday 16th May 11:00-11:20.
Theme 3: A synergy between the biophysical and the economic: The
global market impact on soil erosion
Sartori et al. 2019. Land Use Policy. In Press
Soil Erosion impact in Global markets (agri-food production)

20. Soil Erosion: Summarizing the main policies in EU
Environment
Soil Thematic Strategy
• Stronger integration with
other policies
• Increase awareness raising
• Research to enhance soil
protection
• Legislation?
Agriculture
Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)
• Cross compliance: minimum
standards for soil protection
• Greening: payments for crop
diversification, permanent
grassland, ecological areas. etc.
• Rural Development: practices to
restore degraded land,
conservation agriculture, green
covers, buffer strips, etc.
Water Framework Directive (sediments), Climate policies (Carbon/Erosion)

21. • The new Common Agricultural Policy (post 2020) will have a strong
Environmental Component (including soil erosion)
• Agricultural Management practices are the key driver for reducing
soil erosion
• EU is a front-runner in Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
and soil erosion is part of EU SDGs indicator monitoring
• Better Integration of Environmental, Agricultural, Climate and Water
policies
• Global Challenge: link to UNCCD (COP 14), IPCC (Report on climate
change & desertification in review) and IPBES(erosion/biodiversity)
Concluding remarks

22. Thanks
Questions?
panos.panagos@ec.europa.eu
http://esdac.jrc.ec.europa.eu
@PanosPanagos33