European Soil Erosion Monitoring & Modelling Network for Sustainable Agriculture

Situation

Preventing soil erosion is one of the eight specific objectives of the Mission Implementation Plan elaborated by the EC, considering the substantial impact it exerts on soil health. Soil erosion has detrimental on-site effects such as the loss of crops, yield on agricultural land and soil fertility and the reduction of soil water holding capacity. Off-site effects have impacts including muddy floods, pesticide pollution, eutrophication and siltation of streams, ponds and reservoirs, and poor air quality caused by wind erosion and accompanying dust emissions. Soil erosion modifies the soil’s capacity to supply ecosystem services and functioning, hence bringing food sustainability at risk, and having consequences on human health as well. To better face this threat, it is crucial to understand soil erosion in terms of occurrence (place and time), processes, as well as its extent and magnitude. Despite existing soil erosion related data, knowledge, monitoring methods, and models, there is currently no system for monitoring and assessing soil erosion in space and time in a harmonized way at European scale or even at a national scale. Current EU estimates on soil losses are presented as long-term averages computed with empirical models, at relatively coarse resolution, and not always adjusted to local conditions, which, in agricultural areas, and especially in complex morphologic conditions, are subject to large uncertainties and large spatial and temporal variability.