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Soil protection in Flanders
The Soil Protection Service is responsible for the soil protection policy in Flanders. The Soil Protection Service focuses its activities on the protection of the soil against damage resulting from erosion, landslides, loss of organic matter, compaction and loss of basic soil functions.
Soil erosion
Soil erosion mainly occurs in the southern part of Flanders, where silty to loamy soils and a hilly topography are responsible for high soil loss rates on arable fields and muddy floods in build-up areas.
The soil erosion policy in Flanders provides both financial incentives and obligations for the implementation of soil erosion prevention and combating measures by farmers and municipalities.
Through the Flemish Plan for Rural Development, farmers can obtain grants for grass buffer strips, grassed waterways, small dams with retention pond, conservation tillage and no till. On parcels with a high erosion risk, farmers are obliged to take soil erosion prevention or combating measures. On lower risk parcels, measures are recommended.
Municipalities can obtain subsidies to draw up a municipal soil erosion action plan, to appoint an erosion coordinator, and to carry out small scale soil erosion prevention or combating works. A municipal soil erosion action plan identifies both actual and potential problem areas, and proposes scenario's for the prevention and combating of soil erosion and related problems. An erosion coordinator is responsible for the implementation of the proposed measures.
The subsidy for both the erosion action plan and the erosion coordinator amounts 12.5 Euros per ha planning area.
Small scale erosion prevention and combating works should be designed to control runoff to less erosive rates and/or temporary retain runoff on the field parcels, as close to its source area as possible. This can be achieved by implementing or restoring linear landscape elements such as hedges, banks, shoulders, grass buffer strips and grassed waterways. Water can be stored and sediment can be trapped behind a small dam with a natural buffer zone or in a retention pond. The subsidy amounts 75% of the total costs, including compensations for the landowners and for the farmers.
Soil organic carbon
Carbon is the chemical cornerstone of all life on earth. In the atmosphere, carbon is mainly present as gaseous CO2 and methane. However, an important amount of carbon is stored in the soil as soil organic matter. It is estimated that the stock of soil organic carbon is twice the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. Consequently, small variations in soil organic carbon stocks significantly affect atmospheric CO2 concentrations.
Moreover, soil organic matter plays a key role in soil fertility, soil biodiversity and several ecosystem services. Soils with a critically low amount of organic matter entail higher environmental impact. Soils will need additional input (e.g. fertilisers, pesticides ...) to obtain a yield comparable to soils with an optimal amount of organic matter. Farmers aiming at an optimal amount of organic matter in their soils will enjoy higher productivity and yield - in a sustainable way.
Organic matter is a source of several nutrients and induces a good soil structure. This makes the soil more permeable to water and air and drastically decreases the risk of soil erosion and soil compaction. Thus, soil organic matter management is a key factor for fertile soils and a sound environment.
Due to intensive agriculture without sufficient addition of organic material, a lot of soils in Flanders and Europe have critically low organic carbon stocks. In Flanders, this decreasing trend is still ongoing. The amount of carbon in harvest residues alone is not enough to maintain the existing soil organic carbon stocks. Most soils in Europe need more organic carbon input. Without an extra addition of organic carbon to the soil, the next generation will have to deal with increasing amounts of fields where organic carbon contents are below the critical soil fertility level.
The incorporation of additional organic material like compost or organic manure can be a part of the solution to this problem. A harmonised and integrated approach including a quality assurance system is necessary in order to avoid the dumping of inferior quality products on soils and to uphold consumer confidence in the products.
Landslides
In Flanders, the occurrence of landslides is mainly concentrated in the area of 'The Flemish Ardennes'. The geological and topographical conditions in this region are particularly favourable for the initiation of landslides, i.e. an alternation of clayey sand layers and clay layers (Tertiary sediments), in combination with steep slopes.
The majority of landslides are old and well integrated in the present landscape. They have been initiated under different climatic and land-use conditions. However, recent activity or reactivations within the perimeter of old landslides have been observed, as well as recently initiated landslides on intact (not previously failed) hillslopes.
The landslides may be the result of human or natural causes, or a combination of both. In many cases, human activities are responsible for a permanent decrease of slope stability, whereas high cumulative amounts of precipitation act as a triggering factor. Human activities decreasing slope stability are (e.g.) the local excavation or accumulation of hillslope material for the construction of houses and other infrastructures (roads etc.), and poor water management such as improper drainage or the sealing of natural springs.
In 2003, the Flemish government launched a three-phased project for the creation of an inventory of existing landslides and a landslide susceptibility map for a 2914 km2 study area in the south of Flanders, including the Flemish Ardennes. The results were presented and made available on the internet by august 2010. Two maps have been incorporated in the Databank Ondergrond Vlaanderen (DOV) and can be consulted by any user.
The 'Mapped landslides' show the locations of existing (inventoried) landslides in the study area. The 'Landslide susceptibility map' shows the inherent susceptibility for landsliding, based on the predicted change of occurrence of a landslide, classified into four classes, i.e. very high, high, moderate and low susceptibility. This map was based on a raster of 10 m by 10 m.
For more information please consult the Flemish website of the Soil Protection Service of the Flemish Government.
Contact person: Katrien Oorts