After European laws against air and water pollution have long been in place, a soil health law is now coming. Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius called the four proposals together ‘the last piece of the puzzle’.
Besides a soil law, an expansion for new GMO techniques, such as CRISPR-Cas, was also announced. This cannot happen immediately but first requires careful (new) legal regulation. “This is a first time. This will not be an easy task,” Sinkevičius warned.
This will also apply to broader rules for the approval of new seeds and plants. Recently, Dutch Agriculture Minister Piet Adema said ‘that it is ready and that we can start with it tomorrow’.
Timmermans further clarified that the four proposals are part of the Green Deal trajectory, from Fit for 55 (greenhouse gases), common agricultural policy (eco-subsidies), farm to fork (food safety and biodiversity), industrial emissions (air pollution) up to the (still pending) SUR pesticide regulation (halving chemical use in agriculture) and the nature restoration law.
‘We must put an end to the downward spiral. The return of insects, worms, and bees is necessary.’ Timmermans said that farmers will receive new tools in their toolbox with these four new laws. ‘The next generations, nature, farmers, they all need healthy soil.’
The clean soil regulation will not be a mandatory directive. In the first years, Brussels wants the EU countries mainly to establish a database of polluted sites and to take soil samples more frequently and thoroughly themselves. Also, no quantified EU target will be set.
By doing so, Brussels ignores a recent call from nature groups and international companies to set binding goals to prevent soil erosion. First ensure that the situation does not deteriorate further; after that comes remediation and restoration, Sinkevičius made clear.
According to earlier EU reports, 60 to 70 percent of the soil is unhealthy and subject to erosion, compaction, contamination, and salinization. The European Environment Agency estimates that EU countries already have 2.8 million polluted soil locations. The amount of agricultural land per person in the EU has halved in the past 50 years, the document states.