Soil Status & Protection

A project funded by the EPA programme

1 Year Project - 24/5/2014 - 25/5/2015

Why this project?

Soil quality and protection is vital to ensure soil resources are maintained, sustainable development and food security into the future. After the withdrawal of the proposal for a Soil Framework Directive in May 2014, there is a strong need of a change in how we should consider our soils. The European Commission remains committed to the protection of soil and will examine options on how to best achieve this.
This project aims to evaluate the status of soil protection in Ireland and the available research, in order to inform and inspire future policies.
The objectives of the desk study are to review the current EU and Irish legislations, policies and available data, which assess, or encompass soil protection issues for Ireland. In addition a review of existing data from soil based projects, funded to date in Ireland, will be completed and this will identify any gaps in knowledge, or data. A full stakeholder review will be completed creating a database of potential users of soil information. This will be used to invite stakeholders to a workshop in which a summary of the desk study and a scenario analyses will be presented looking at soil functions relevant to Irish soils. This project will develop a meta-catalogue of existing soil data in Ireland and propose potential soil monitoring options for future research at national and EU level.