News

• The new soil monitoring network in the Basque Country has anticipated the future European regulatory framework, reinforcing the sustainable management of the territory.
• The new approach focuses on data collection, biodiversity studies, and support for public policies.

For years, soil has been largely overlooked in environmental policies, despite its central role in food production, biodiversity conservation, and the regulation of key processes such as the carbon and water cycles. However, the progressive deterioration of this resource and the increasing pressure on ecosystems have placed soil health at the heart of the European agenda, driving the need for reliable, comparable, and useful information to support decision-making.

In this context, the Basque Country has decided not to wait for the new European regulatory framework to become mandatory. Through the Basque Institute for Agricultural Research and Development (NEIKER) , the region has launched a monitoring network that already applies the methodological criteria being defined at the EU level, anticipating the European Union's Soil Law and laying the groundwork for more precise, evidence-based management.

Operation

The initiative stems from a key idea: not all soils respond the same way, nor do they fulfill the same functions, so their assessment must reflect the true diversity of the territory. To this end, the network designed in the Basque Country relies on a system of strategically distributed monitoring points capable of capturing climatic, soil, and landscape variations across the entire region. Key elements of this approach include:

• The creation of a broad network of sampling points that allows for the observation of medium and long-term trends.

• The application of a methodology aligned with future European standards .

• The progressive validation of the system through pilot sampling in representative farmland .

• Collaboration with specialized entities to guarantee technical rigor and comparability.

This approach allows us to move from one-off diagnoses to a continuous view of soil evolution, which is key to anticipating risks and assessing the impact of management policies.

New perspective

One of the most significant changes in the European regulatory framework, and in the network deployed in the Basque Country, is the incorporation of soil biology as a key indicator of its health. In contrast to traditional analyses focused on physical and chemical parameters, the new approach recognizes that soil biodiversity is a direct reflection of ecosystem functioning. In practice, this translates into:

• The inclusion of microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi in the assessment of soil health.

• The use of advanced DNA analysis techniques to identify the biological diversity present.

• Greater sensitivity to detect changes resulting from agricultural practices, environmental pressure, or pollution.

• The challenge is to move towards standardized methods that allow for comparison of results between regions .

This methodological shift represents an important step towards a more complete understanding of the soil as a living system, and not just as a productive support.

Support for the agricultural sector

Far from being seen as a new burden for the agricultural sector, the monitoring network is conceived as a support tool . The information generated will allow for better guidance of public decisions, evaluation of the effectiveness of agricultural and environmental policies, and the design of measures more closely aligned with the realities of the territory. The potential uses of this data are:

1. Support for agricultural policies and adaptation to climate change.

2. Early identification of degradation and pollution processes.

3. Generating synergies with emerging lines of research.

4. Improving coherence between environmental, agricultural, and health strategies .

Euskadi also gains influence and learning capacity, placing itself in an advantageous position when the regulations become mandatory in all member states.

In a European context where soil health is emerging as a key pillar for sustainability, initiatives like this show how territories can move from regulatory obligation to opportunity, strengthening their capacity to protect an essential resource on which both the rural environment and society as a whole depend.