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The draft directive on soil protection was presented to members
of the European Parliament's ITRE committee (Industry, technology,
research and energy) in September.
Ecological NGOs present at the meeting were not reassured.
"We are disappointed with it. This directive is in danger,
when it could be an essential lever for a genuine policy on
soil protection on a European scale" - said Sophie Bringuy,
legal expert at France Nature Environnement.
Adoption of the draft has been postponed to at least the
plenary meeting on the environmental commission, in mid-November.
Yet, in the face of continuing degradation of soils and the
growing phenomena of erosion, compression, urbanisation, desertification
and soil contamination, the adoption of a directive is becoming
urgent.
According to a report published at the end of 2006 by the
European Commission, the issue has gained a higher profile
both in Europe and internationally. By its nature, it affects
many domains - from urban and peri-urban, to agricultural
environments, as well as water and air quality, gas cycles
and nutrients.
The initial draft of the directive provided for the introduction
in each member state of preventative measures against degradation,
as well as recovery and cleansing of degraded soils. The area
concerned is considerable - the Commission's report estimates
that 115 million hectares in Europe suffer from water erosion,
42 million from wind erosion and, potentially, contaminated
sites total close to 3.5 million hectares.
The goal is to 'restore a level of functionality appropriate
to their future authorised use'. For contaminated sites,
the directive requires member states to carry out an inventory
in order to clean them up 'in such a way that they no longer
represent a serious risk to human health or to the environment'.
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