Despite the measures of the Common Agricultural Policy in soil erosion, rain and rivers erode every year around 600 million cubic meters of soil, according to the findings of the European Commission's Joint Research Center (JRC).
Despite the measures of the Common Agricultural Policy in soil erosion, rain and rivers erode every year around 600 million cubic meters of soil, according to the findings of the European Commission's Joint Research Center (JRC). The loss corresponds to 970 million tons of soil, which is an amount that could be enough to bury Belgium in 2 cm depth. For the transport of this volume no less than 40 million trucks of 15 cubic meters each and every of them would be required.
The problem becomes clearer considering that a whole century is needed for 1 cm of new soil to be formed.
This phenomenon mainly concerns land which was cleared for cultivation and is rinsed by rainwater. The Mediterranean region is characterized as more vulnerable to erosion.
The new soil generation rate in the EU is almost half compared to the average rate of loss at 0.14 tons per acre per year.
The study recognizes that the rules of the European Common Agricultural Policy and the EU Soil Thematic Strategy led to the reduction in corrosion rate by 9.5% on average and by 20% in arable land.
Since erosion has significant effects on ecosystems, biodiversity, agricultural products and drinking water, the EU has put the issue "at the heart of the environmental agenda" and asks for quantitative estimates of the loss rates in each country.
To address the phenomenon, extra measures need to be taken for 25% of Europe's land where the average annual loss reaches or exceeds 0.2 tonnes per year.
Sources: eurekalert.org, globalpost.com
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