AGRI-ENVIRONMENTAL SOIL QUALITY INDICATOR in the European - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

OECD Workshop on Agri-Environmental Indicators, Leysin, Switzerland, 23-26 March 2010 1 AGRI-ENVIRONMENTAL SOIL QUALITY INDICATOR in the European Perspective Gergely Tóth EUROPEAN COMMISSION JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE Institute for Environment and Sustainability OECD Workshop on Agri-Environmental Indicators, Leysin, Switzerland, 23-26 March 2010

Policy background of SQ evaluation OECD Workshop on Agri-Environmental Indicators, Leysin, Switzerland, 23-26 March 2010 2 The EU’s Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection (COM (2006) 231) Preservation of soil functions - biomass production, - physical and cultural environment for humans - biodiversity pool - archive of geological and acheological heritage - source of raw material - acting as carbon pool - storing filtering and transforming nutrients, substances and water Three main policy areas with agri-environmental effect (OECD 2008) - Agricultural policies (production related) - Agri-environmental policies (enhance environmental benefit associated to agriculture) - Environmental policies (of specific issues – eg. climate, water pollution – with efect on agriculture)

Concept of evaluation of soil quality OECD Workshop on Agri-Environmental Indicators, Leysin, Switzerland, 23-26 March 2010 3 1. Optimal performance of soil functions often do not coincide 2. Performance of functions can be altered (by natural and antropogenic factors) After Tóth et al. 2008 Constituents of soil quality SOIL QUALITY Soil Functional Ability Soil Response Properties The two main elements of soil quality corresponds to the 1) identification of existing potential to perform functions 2) indication of sensitivity/reaction to external influences

Four aspects of soil quality OECD Workshop on Agri-Environmental Indicators, Leysin, Switzerland, 23-26 March 2010 4 in the agri-environmental context SUB-INDICATORS 1-4 Productivity AGRICULTURAL The capacity of soil to biomass production Fertilizer response rate AGRI-ENV The input-need to attain optimal productivity Production stability AGRI-ENV The soil-response to climatic variability Soil environmental quality ENVIRONMENTAL Carbon storage; filtering; buffering; soil biodiversity and biol. activity

SUB-INDICATOR 1. OECD Workshop on Agri-Environmental Indicators, Leysin, Switzerland, 23-26 March 2010 5 BIOMASS PRODUCTIVITY Biomass production function of a given soil is computed on the basis of soil properties at prevailing climatic conditions . Since productivity is a result of the interaction of soil , climatic and terrain conditions (and management) , these factors need to be assessed in their complexity. Methodology: - Semi-quantitative PTR development (with statistical validation) - STU productivity by climatic regions, taking water and nutrient regime into account

SUB-INDICATOR 2. OECD Workshop on Agri-Environmental Indicators, Leysin, Switzerland, 23-26 March 2010 6 FERTILIZER RESPONSE RATE The effect of N fertilization on wheat productivity of Luvisols ( Tóth et al. 2005 ) Methodology: Soil fertilizer response pedotransfer rule development by Soil Typological Units (groups) by climatic regions

SUB-INDICATOR 3. OECD Workshop on Agri-Environmental Indicators, Leysin, Switzerland, 23-26 March 2010 7 SOIL PRODUCTION STABILITY The effect of climate variation on wheat productivity index of Haplic Luvisols (Debreczeni et al. 2003) Methodology: As at SUB-INDICATOR 1; Applying two climate scenarios a) optimal conditions b) suboptimal conditions (drought)

SUB-INDICATOR 4. OECD Workshop on Agri-Environmental Indicators, Leysin, Switzerland, 23-26 March 2010 8 SOIL ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY a) Organic carbon storage; b) Filtering; c) Transforming; d) Soil biodiversity and biological activity. Methodology: a) Stolbovoy and Montanarella (2008) b) Filtering capacity model development (in progress) c) PTR development (in progress) d) Soil species diversity and functional diversity designation

Input Data Need of Sub-Indicators (level of detail: NUTS 2 and 3) OECD Workshop on Agri-Environmental Indicators, Leysin, Switzerland, 23-26 March 2010 9 sub-indicator Soil environmental quality Fertilizer Production Biodiversity Productivity Organic Substances Substances response rate stability and biological carbon storage filtering transforming activity Input data Data source Climate Climate areas of Europe JRC + + + + - - + Precipitation; potential evapotranspiration; JRC + - + - + + + aridity index Soil Soil type JRC (SGDBE) + + + + + + + Texture + + + + + + + Water capacity + + + - + + + Depth + + + + + + + JRC (SGDBE); LUCAS Soil Soil properties OM + + + + + + + (Eurostat, DG ENV, JRC) CEC - + - - + + + Mineralogy - - - - + + + Biological activity - + - - - + - Land use/ management CORINE Land Land use type + + + + + + + cover; SGDBE Mineral fertilizer consumption EUROSTAT + + - - - - - (N and P2O5) Pesticide use EUROSTAT - - - - - - + Yield statistics Eurostat; JRC + + + - - - - Topography Digital elevation model SRTM90 + - - - - - +

SUMMARY OECD Workshop on Agri-Environmental Indicators, Leysin, Switzerland, 23-26 March 2010 10 A concept to replace the obsolete Agri-Environmental Soil Quality Indicator (AE-SQI) has been developed. The new AE-SQI is compatible with the Soil Quality Indicators developed to support a wider range of EU policies. It includes four sub-indicators of: – Productivity; – Fertilizer response rate; – Production stability; – Soil environmental quality. The new AE-SQI can be used for policy development and monitoring, through its capacity to indicate : - the effect of land use change on the availability and functioning capacity of soil resources; - the effect of land management (e.g. intensification) on the functioning capacity of soil resources; - the effect of climatic variability on the production function of soil resources; - the capacity of soil to mitigate environmental problems (climate change, water pollution etc.).

OECD Workshop on Agri-Environmental Indicators, Leysin, Switzerland, 23-26 March 2010 11 Thank you !