More sensitivity for our soil

In the fourth and final issue of the FOEN magazine "umwelt" in December 2017, the main topic was soil. In the editorial, FOEN Deputy Director Franziska Schwarz began with the question: How much soil does man need? She referred to the famous Russian poet and writer Leo Tolstoy, who chose this title for a world-famous story in 1885. She believes that the Russian world literary figure did not choose the word "earth" by chance: "We feel the crumb that trickles between our fingers, and we smell whether it is moist or dry, mineral or interspersed with organic material."

What Tolstoy told us about
Tolstoy's story is about a peasant who wants to own as much land as possible. He sells his property several times, each time moving further east to increase his land. Finally, he is able to buy good steppe land cheaply from the Bashkirs - as much as he can walk around from sunrise to sunset. He overestimates his strength and collapses dead from exhaustion when the sun sinks, probably also because he was running desperately in his greed. The expression "ground" often seems somewhat distant and abstract. Perhaps this is also one of the reasons why we often treat this precious resource negligently. "We are aware of the settlements in which we live and the green landscape in which we relax. But we are hardly ever really aware that the soil supports both and is also a habitat in its own right, populated by countless micro-organisms," says Franziska Schwarz. Personal and financial interests are usually more important than the preservation of the soil.

Legal soil protection only since 1983
A legal basis for qualitative soil protection has only existed in Switzerland since 1983, when the Environmental Protection Act (EPA) came into force. The Confederation is working at various levels to improve soil protection. So far, the successes have been rather modest. This is not least due to the fact that financial and human resources are still scarce at the cantonal and communal levels. Spatial planning is responsible for quantitative soil protection. The partial revision of the Spatial Planning Act (RPG), which came into force on 1 May 2014, is intended to curb soil consumption. In contrast to the EU, Switzerland lacks an integral strategy for the sustainable use of soil.

How much cultivated land is lost? One football pitch per day, five or even ten? The Federal Statistical Office provides the answer: between 1985 and 2010, the settlement area grew by almost 600 square kilometres, larger than Lake Geneva. According to the "Urban sprawl" project completed in May 2017 as part of the National Research Programme "Sustainable use of soil as a resource" (NRP 68), the trend towards greater soil consumption is expected to continue until the middle of this century.

The public is much less aware of the fact that far more than fields and meadows are disappearing with the soil than of the loss of land. "When politicians discuss the importance of soil for our country, the focus is on the protection of cultivated land or food security," says Ruedi Stähli of the FOEN Soil Section.

Displaced problem of soil sealing
Another often underestimated problem is the large number of infrastructure facilities and residential and industrial estates. Production and commercial buildings, residential buildings, school facilities and sports halls make an important contribution to society. At the same time, they often prevent the soil from fulfilling its natural functions, because the majority of these areas are sealed. More than 60 percent of the land used for residential and industrial purposes is sealed against rainwater - in the Central Plateau this already accounts for a good ten percent of the total land area. The fact that the natural functional mechanisms of the soil have been irreparably damaged is particularly serious. The valuable humus layer has developed in many areas since the last ice age in a process lasting several thousand years. The soil represents a habitat of enormous dimensions. There are more living creatures in a handful of soil than there are people in the world.

Because Switzerland takes far too little care of its soil, the FOEN and other federal offices are working together on a national soil strategy. Ruedi Stähli explains: "We want to focus on the diverse functions of the soil. With clear priorities, we want to counteract its destruction.

The first priority is to reduce soil consumption. In times of climate change, soil fulfils another function: it has a cooling effect on the microclimate in cities and dense settlements. In addition, this gives the soil in these places yet another significance. Without it, there would be no cultural landscapes as we know and appreciate them in our country. High-quality landscapes are of central importance to our lives in many respects, emphasises Matthias Stremlow, Head of the Rural Areas Section at the FOEN. He mentions aspects such as "identity" and "spatial emotional attachment" and speaks of the trend towards regionalisation. An attractive environment for our country also represents the greatest tourist capital. Soil therefore fulfils an incredible variety of functions. It is therefore all the more important to protect this valuable resource effectively.

Soil quality must score
The "crop rotation areas" (FFF) sectoral plan, which came into force in 1992, ensures that Switzerland can supply itself (sufficiently) with food. To this end, almost 440000 hectares of arable land are under protection. This is just under one third of the land that can be used for agriculture. It is the responsibility of the cantons to preserve these areas. Despite the revised Spatial Planning Act, however, there is no change: The legally enshrined protection of soil is largely focused only on the areas and disregards their quality. With the sectoral plan for crop rotation areas, spatial planning only takes into account the function of the soil. This is mainly because almost all cantons have too few or no soil maps available as a basis for decision-making. When weighing up spatial planning conflicts, such valuable soil services as flood protection or drinking water purification are hardly taken into account.

Instruments for a comprehensive soil evaluation would be available. In Germany and Austria, soil function maps are used for integral spatial planning. The city of Stuttgart, for example, works successfully with the planning map "Soil Quality". This maps the suitability and function of soils at a glance in six different, colour-coded levels. On this basis, soil quotas can be determined and evaluated in the form of index points. The best soils receive more points, the poorer ones fewer. It is important that the planning autonomy of the municipalities is preserved in such systems.

In this way they are motivated to preserve good soils and thus maintain the highest possible soil quality over a long period of time. Ruedi Stähli of the FOEN is convinced that such a system also has a future in Switzerland: "This would replace the current evaluation of soils, which focuses only on the production function, with a more comprehensive appreciation of soil quality." But a lot of convincing and information work is still needed.