Current Soil Indicators for European Reporting and Data Requests

1. Current Soil Indicators for European Reporting and Data Requests Martha Wepner Federal Environment Agency Austria European Topic Centre on Terrestrial Environment Belgrade, 30 September 2003

2. Outline • Core set of indicators • Data request 2003 • Local soil contamination • Diffuse soil contamination • Soil sealing

3. EEA Core Set of indicatorsOutcomes first round for TE • 39 (out of an elementary list of 152) TE indicators commented by EIONET • Countries indicated priorities (50 % rejected, some new indicators proposed) • Overlap between indicators in different sets to be examined • EEA core set should be linked to other international indicator activities Core indicators 1. Outcomes first consultation round for TE 2. Focus second consultation round for TE

4. Focus of the second round • To show progress made since 1st consultation round based on clients’ comments • To provide clients with a further opportunity to comment on proposals • To obtain views on formal implementation from 2004 of short* term indicators within the core set *short term: high policy relevance, fact sheet available, sound methodology, temporal trend and country comparability, data available in 2003 Core indicators 1. Outcomes first consultation round for TE 2. Focus second consultation round for TE

5. Present status TE core set • 24 proposed TE indicators covering • 17 main indicators + 7 sub-indicators • 8 short term, 12 medium term, 4 long term • 7 different environmental issues Proposed EEA core set includes 354 indicators • 206 from more developed areas (climate change, air pollution, ozone depletion, water, waste and material flows, energy, transport and agriculture) • 148 from less developed areas (biodiversity, terrestrial environment, water ecological quality, tourism and fisheries) Core indicators 1. Outcomes first consultation round for TE 2. Focus second consultation round for TE

6. Terrestrial environment issues • Soil pollution • Soil erosion • Land use and land cover change • Urban environment • Coastal environment • Natural Hazards => no comprehensive ‘core set’ for TE Core indicators 1. Outcomes first consultation round for TE 2. Focus second consultation round for TE

7. Proposed short term indicators • Soil contamination from localized sources • Progress in management of contaminated sites • Expenditures on contaminated sites remediation • Soil polluting activities • Soil erosion risk • Fragmentation of ecosystems and habitats by transport infrastructure • Land cover changes in the surroundings of designated areas • Proximity of transport infrastructure to designated areas • Area affected by flooding Core indicators 1. Outcomes first consultation round for TE 2. Focus second consultation round for TE

8. Soil indicators • Development of soil indicators since 1996 • In course of ETC/S and ETC/TE • EIONET workshops 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003 • Discussions/agreement on indicators and definitions • Data requests • Development of core set of indicators (3 indicators on local soil contamination) • Reporting on soil • EIONET data request 2003 • Deadline 30 September 2003 • Local soil contamination • Diffuse soil contamination • Soil sealing http://eea.eionet.eu.int:8980/Members/irc/eionet-circle/te/library?l=/soil_collection/collection_contamination&vm=detailed&sb=Title • Data request • Local contamination • Diffuse contamination • Soil sealing

9. Local soil contamination • Core Set of Indicators (priority data flow) • Management of contaminated sites • Remediation expenditures • Soil polluting activities (incl. hot spot map) • New indicators (non priority data flow) • Landfills • Mining sites • Remediation activities • New indicators as a result of the Technical Workshop in May 2002 • Main problem: harmonised data, lack of reporting obligation –> EIONET data request 2003 • Data request • Local contamination

10. Management of contaminated sites (R) • Better definition of processing steps introduced • Is update of data available? • Is finalisation of handling of (historic) contaminated sites predictable? • Data request • Local contamination • - Core Set

11. Remediation expenditures (R) • More precise definition is introduced • Can the remediation costs be split? • Is it possible to provide informtion on the private and public share of remediation expenditures? • Estimation of expected overall remediation costs? • Data request • Local contamination • - Core Set

12. Soil polluting activities (D) Soil polluting activities from localised sources as % of total • Data request • Local contamination • - Core Set • Better classification of soil polluting activities • Major industrial and commercial branches • Main contaminants at industrial caused contamination

13. Soil polluting activities (D) Percentage of urbanised or industrially used land (in km²) per unit (50 x 50 km²) - devided into 4 categories • for region with higher urbanisation and industrial density the expectation for local soil contamination is higher • Plausibility of hot spot map Source: CLC 1990 and ESRI Population Density • Data request • Local contamination • - Core Set

14. Waste landfilling (S) • The more landfills complying with the Landfill Directive the less likely soil contamination will occur • Total landfills in use as of 2001, hereof compiling with the LFD? • No of closed down landfills, hereof regarded as potentially contaminated • Data request • Local contamination • - New indicators

15. Mining sites (S) • Initiatives concerning the implementation of mining waste problem into EU wide legislation ongoing • Information on operating and closed down mines? • Geo-referenced data on location available? • Data request • Local contamination • - New indicators

16. Remediation (R) • Remediation methods - which are most frequently applied? • Reuse of land - which are the different driving forces for solving contaminated land problems? • Assessing remediation necessity - what are the reasons? • Data request • Local contamination • - New indicators

17. Diffuse soil contamination • Main issues • Acidification • Eutrophication • Heavy metals and chemicals • Suggested indicators (non priority data flow) • Soil contamination (heavy metals) in agricultural and pasture soils • Application of sewage sludge (Pressure, HMs) • Many more indicators discussed in the Technical Workshop in May 2002 (excess load acidity, heavy metal accumulation and mobility) • Main problem: need of monitoring data • Data request • Diffuse contamination

18. Heavy metal accumulation (S) • Cd and Pb concentrations in topsoils and subsoils • Pb topsoil/Pb subsoil • Baltic Soil Survey and FOREGS • The most interesting points: high concentration with clear enrichment • Better coverage: data request needed • Data request • Diffuse contamination

19. Sewage sludge application (P) Agricultural area treated with sewage sludgerelated to the total permitted agricultural area • Data request • Diffuse contamination Provinces of Austria (NUTS 2 level) Source: ÖSTAT (1995, 1998); BMLF; AMA; INVEKOS-Data (date May 1999); BFL (1996): Ecological evaluation of the Austrian environment programme ÖPUL; FEA Monographie/No. 95 (1997), BMLF (1999): Austrian Water Protection Report

20. Sewage sludge application • Data needs: total agricultural area, area of agricultural land treated with sewage sludge; subindicator: amount of sewage sludge applied, average heavy metal content • Data availability: high for agricultural area and amount of sewage sludge, medium for area treated with sewage sludge and h.m. content • Feasibility: mainly at NUTS 2 level, every 3 years; only in co-operation with Member countries, EC, Eurostat and ETC-WMF • Main problem: need of regional data  data request to countries • Data request • Diffuse contamination

21. Soil sealing: % of built-up area • Data request • Soil sealing • Built-up area • Current work

22. Soil sealing: % increase • Data request • Soil sealing • Built-up area • Current work

23. Data request soil sealing • Data request • Soil sealing • Built-up area • Current work • Land consumption (= human land-use, non-productive) by built-up areas • roads, houses and private gardens, industry, mines, railway ... • Divided into sealed and non-sealed areas • Time series for the past 20 years

24. Data request Data request http://eea.eionet.eu.int:8980/Members/irc/eionet-circle/te/library?l=/soil_collection/collection_contamination&vm=detailed&sb=Title

25. Soil indicators • Data request • Local contamination • Diffuse contamination • Soil sealing Integrated with CDR