Europe’s landscape is changing rapidly due to the ever-expanding urbanization and infrastructure development. Cities are expanding into productive agricultural land, cutting the landscape into smaller patches, affecting wildlife and ecosystems. In addition to landscape fragmentation, soil and land face a number of other threats: contamination, erosion, compaction, sealing, degradation, and even abandonment .
According to the European Environment Agency, Europe’s land cover has remained relatively stable since 2000, with about 25% covered by arable land and permanent crops, 17% by pastures, and 34% by forests. However, on closer inspection of recent land cover changes, two noteworthy trends emerge. First, cities and concrete infrastructures continue to expand. Although artificial surfaces cover less than 5% of the wider EEA territory, a sizeable area still became sealed (covered by concrete or asphalt) between 2000 and 2018. Second, the largest losses were observed in agricultural land, due mainly to urban expansion and farming withdrawal, while the total forest area remained stable. The area of cropland, pastureland, and natural grasslands lost was similar in size to the increase in area of artificial surfaces. And, as most of Europe’s cities were built on and surrounded by fertile land, it is often productive agricultural land that gets taken and covered by artificial surfaces. Fortunately, the loss of agricultural land appears to have slowed down significantly and came close to halting in the period 2012-2018 .
oil health is a critical issue in Europe. Over 60% of European soils are unhealthy, and scientific evidence shows that soils are further degrading due to unsustainable management of the land, sealing, contamination, and overexploitation, combined with the impact from climate change and extreme weather events . Soil degradation is a major concern for Europe, as it affects the quality of food, water, and air, and can lead to a decline in biodiversity and ecosystem services .
The European Union has taken several initiatives to protect and improve soil health. The EU’s Earth observation program, Copernicus, completed another round of a Europe-wide mapping exercise in 2018, which formed the
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