ARCHIVE: Land: Soil and contamination
Information on the old Defra website currently covers the following:
Further information
Soil and contaminated land are closely interlinked subjects, with land contamination being one of the various threats to soil. This linkage is also reflected at European Union level, under the Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection, including proposals for a Soil Framework Directive.
Soil
Soil policy deals with many different aspects of soil, including the functions that soil performs and ecosystem services that it provides. It focuses on the ways in which we can address the various threats to soil and build resilience to increasing pressures in order to provide a sustainable food supply and cope with our changing climate.
Domestically, the Soil Strategy for England (published in September 2009) underpins this area of Defra's work. In Europe, negotiations continue on the draft Soil Framework Directive.
Contaminated land
Land contamination is covered by a separate of series of pages, because it is an extensive subject in its own right, with its own legislation, policy and technical material such as soil guideline values.
Land contamination can pose both environmental and human health concerns.
Page last
modified: 29 October 2010
Page published: 18 August 2003