Vital soil biodiversity legislation to go before EU Council

Scofflaw

The EU Commission's proposed legislation on the protection of soil quality will be decided upon at the Environment Council next Monday (15th March). The Commission has been arguing for binding legislation in this area since 2006, but little progress has been made.

Over a quarter of all living species live in ground soil, yet Europe still has no binding legislation to protect this resource. If accepted by the Council, this draft legislation, will prevent the deterioration of this resource which is essential for; food production, clean water, and air, climate regulation, and antibiotics such as penicillin and streptomycin

Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik said: "Soil is the invisible biodiversity hero. We rely on healthy soils for some of the most fundamental ecosystem services, and without them life on our planet would grind to a halt. We share our soils, so I am convinced of the need for common legislation in this area. I am therefore calling on Environment ministers to put in place a sound regulatory framework to protect this most precious resource, and ensure we use it wisely."

EU Memo

The adoption of the Directive by the European Parliament and the Council could take two years. Then the Member States will transpose it into national legislation and start implementing it:

* The general provisions of the Directive are into force from that moment on.
* Within five years after the transposition, they will have to identify risk areas.
* Within seven years, they will have to adopt targets and a programme of measures to reach these targets and report to the European Commission.
* Within five years, the Member States will also have to achieve a preliminary inventory of contaminated sites.
* Within seven years they have to establish a national remediation strategy in order to manage their contaminated sites over the medium and long term. They will establish a funding mechanism for the remediation of orphan sites, as well as a soil status report.

Two years is a pity, since the likely makeup of Irish government at that stage will be such that any such Directive will go the way of the Habitats Directive and the Nitrates Directive. Fortunately, we don't have a lot of contaminated sites compared to the more industrialised member states.

cordially,
Scofflaw

Rigor Mortis

we do not have many sites that we are aware of. i suspect there are a lot of unofficial landfill sites around the country that could do with a clean up

Just saw the data on that memo, its 2006, so two years was optimistic on their part

Scofflaw

Rigor Mortis wrote: »

we do not have many sites that we are aware of. i suspect there are a lot of unofficial landfill sites around the country that could do with a clean up

Just saw the data on that memo, its 2006, so two years was optimistic on their part

Unfortunately so...

cordially,
Scofflaw

kilmuckridge

On the habitat directive note, why isn't there uproar about the inaction of the npws in relation to the blatant destruction of one of the most important grey dunes in Ireland, if not Europe? There has been a deafening silence since it appeared on the six-one news (19th March)
NPWS (before destruction):

It is of particular
conservation significance for its Marram dunes and fixed dunes, both habitats listed on Annex I of the EU Habitats Directive. The presence of several scarce plants adds to the importance of the site.

Attached is a picture showing neighbouring dunes with the site in the background, and a close-up picture of the site when all the (200+) cattle are feeding on the other side of the site