The EU Soil Observatory (EUSO) will establish a comprehensive dashboard containing indicators that present data on soil-related issues within and, in some cases, outside of the EU.
The following are eamples of indicators in relation to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), Agro-environment and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):
The soil erosion, soil carbon and soil nutrients (Phosphorus, Nitrogen, Potassium) indicators provide baselines for evaluating the status of agricultural soils in the EU. They are also used for evaluating the impact of agro-environmental policies on land management.
CAP indicators contribute to the assessment of CAP performance. Soil erosion and soil organic carbon are the two soil-relevant indicators used to monitor the impact of the CAP on soils.
Download the Context indicator fiches
The soil erosion CAP indicator (C.42) consists of 2 sub-indicators:
Eurostat carries out a detailed overview of an updated set of 28 agri-environmental indicators for the EU, in order to monitor the integration of environmental concerns into the CAP.
For monitoring the status of natural resources, soil erosion and soil quality are included among the 28 AEI indicators.
The soil erosion indicator AE21, expressed as mean tonnes per ha per year (at different administrative levels: Member State / NUTS1 / NUTS2 / NUTS3) is used to track the integration of environmental concerns into the CAP at EU, national and regional levels.
The EU is committed to playing an active role to maximise progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, which were adopted by the United Nations (UN) in September 2015.
Soil erosion by water and soil organic carbon are two of the 100 SDG indicators proposed by the European Commission to monitor "Sustainable development in the European Union".
The EUSO will also look to develop indicators to track progress in meeting the targets of the Soil Health and Food Mission: