The hidden link between land degradation and the devastating effects of floods

While images of the latest disaster linked to extreme weather events flow around the world from Valencia, one report has gone almost unnoticed.It's called State of Soils in Europe 2024 and is the result of joint research by the Joint Research Center (JRC) and the European Environment Agency (EEA).The report shows how land degradation continues unabated across Europe.Due to various factors – such as intensive agriculture, monocultures and the use of nutrients that aim exclusively to increase productivity without regenerating the land – the continental soil is increasingly impoverished and impermeable.Yet, the two issues are closely related:if it is true that extreme events such as floods are increasing in frequency due to climate change (3 to 5 times more than half a century ago, according to statistics), the tragic implications in terms of victims and the destruction they cause could be significantly reduced through mitigation strategies.Among these, maintaining the soil's ability to absorb water is a determining factor.

But the situation continues to deteriorate and, in the future, there is no sign of a reversal in the trend.According to the relationship, a quarter of European soil is at risk of water erosion and around a third of agricultural land is unproductive or nearly so.Data which, as underlined by the document, show an "alarming state and trends, with land degradation having worsened significantly in recent years" and which highlight the need for immediate action to reverse this trend.According to recent estimates, soil erosion would amount to around one billion tons per year (affecting around 24% of the total), with a direct impact on agricultural production and ecological imbalances.Furthermore, it is underlined that one of the most widespread practices that significantly contributes to the phenomenon is mechanical tillage which, together with wind erosion caused by winds and other harmful practices - such as intensive harvesting of crops - could further aggravate the situation, leading overall erosion to increase by as much as 25% by 2050.This would add to nutritional imbalances, which are also on the rise: 74% of European agricultural land has nutrient deficiencies or excesses which compromise fertility and can have negative impacts on the environment and human health.An example is the excessive increase in nitrogen in the soil, while on the contrary organic carbon - essential for keeping the soil fertile and productive - is constantly decreasing:from 2009 to 2018, approximately 70 million tonnes would have been lost.Even European peat bogs, which act as real carbon "sinks", are losing their natural function:while under normal conditions they absorb and store large quantities of carbon from the atmosphere, if degraded they can transform from sinks into sources of emissions, and that is precisely what is happening.According to the data presented, they are responsible for approximately 5% of total greenhouse gas emissions and 50% of these areas are severely affected.

But the relationship was not limited to analyze only EU territories:even in Ukraine, Turkey and the Balkans the situation is no less dramatic.In Ukraine, the conflict has resulted in the degradation of more than 10 million hectares of land, and restoration of this land could take decades or even centuries.In Türkiye, around 1.5 million hectares are affected by salinity problems, making the land less productive and more vulnerable to erosion.In the Western Balkans, however, they were over 100 contaminated sites reported due to industrial and mining activities, although the true extent of the pollution is not yet fully known.

In conclusion, the report denounces that European soil - and not only - is worsening, and therefore actions should be immediate, coordinated and ambitious to prevent the situation from worsening further and to "guarantee a sustainable future for generations to come".

[by Roberto Demaio]