Soils are a vital environmental resource; however, soil protection efforts in European Union have been partial, fragmented and insufficient to halt their degradation.
In the Policy Conference held at Brussels, on September 27th 2018, there was a debate about how to improve EU policies to secure the delivery of soil ecosystem services.
The main results of the European project RECARE (with participation of the CSIC) were presented in a forum of scientists, policy-makers and stakeholders. The Conference was opened by Josiane Masson, responsible of soil policy in the EU Directorate General of Environment.
Researchers of the IRNAS, CSIC have contributed to this Conference with the study of remediation measures of contaminated soils and the experience of 20 years of environmental monitoring in the Guadiamar Green Corridor (Seville, Spain).
Based on the RECARE findings in two study sites: Guadiamar (Spain) and Copşa Mică (Romania), and other previous studies, a set of recommendations for contaminated soils in Europe have been proposed: 1) Establish a common EU framework to guide remediation of historical contamination at national level, 2) establish and implement national strategies for soil contamination, and 3) improve knowledge, sharing and availability of information, and engage stakeholders in the process of remediating soil contamination.