Ireland's State of the Environment Report 2024

146 Chapter 6: Soil Figure 6.4  Proposed soil monitoring law Assessment of soil health Select sampling locations Register of contaminated and potentially contaminated sites Define soil districts Criteria for soil ecological status based on Annex 1 of the directive Define methodologies to assess soil ecological status Within 4 years of directive coming into force Within 5 years of directive coming into force Source: Adapted from EC, 2023a 1 Soil sealing is the process whereby ground is covered with impermeable materials (such as asphalt and concrete) for residential or commercial buildings or infrastructure such as roads, rail and piers, rendering it impervious to water. The current proposal for an EU soil monitoring law (EC, 2023a) is a response to scientific evidence that 60-70% of EU soils are in an unhealthy state and that pressure on land and soil is increasing soil sealing. 1 The proposal will require EU Member States to establish a framework for monitoring soil health (Figure 6.4). Under the proposed soil monitoring law (EC, 2023b), Member States will be required to identify soil districts and define criteria for soil ecological status and the methodologies to assess them. The annexes of the proposed directive set out the soil health criteria that can be taken into consideration. Member States will be required to assess soil health at selected sampling locations within 5 years of the directive coming into force, and then every 5 years after that. Soil will be considered healthy if it achieves good or high ecological status. To work towards an aspirational goal of achieving no net land take by 2050, soil sealing and soil destruction are to be managed as the first and most impactful step. A register of contaminated and potentially contaminated sites must be created. An obligation to include soil restoration in the proposed soil monitoring law was considered but not included. The European Commission will analyse the requirements to restore unhealthy soils by 2050. This assessment will take place 6 years after the proposed law comes into force and will be informed by the information collected by Member States in their implementation of the law. 4. Status of soils in Ireland Ireland’s soil types are variable. They are influenced by Ireland’s geology and terrain (slope), rainfall, drainage, vegetation types, land use and climate, which includes the influence of past glaciation. Gley and peat soils are characterised as having poor drainage. Podzols and brown podzolic soils are found where there is moderate drainage and the soil forms distinct horizons (layers) created by minerals and nutrients leaching at different rates. Brown earth soils (Figure 6.5) are relatively young soils formed where dense vegetation has resulted in decaying leaves (humus), which is mixed with soil organisms, giving the soil a brown colour and less distinctive horizons.