Quo vadis soil protection in the Alps?

Abstract

In many countries, the Alpine Convention’s Soil Conservation Protocol is a requirement “neglected” by public administration and by society, as accountability is spread across many fields of legislation. Especially in the Alps, soil conservation is of great significance, as soil is a limited, non-renewable and endangered resource. During the German Presidency of the Alpine Convention (2015-2016), an assessment of the implementation status of the Soil Conservation Protocol was performed by the present study. Various substantive aspects of soil conservation were considered in the assessment. The following thematic areas were worked out in detail by an online expert survey, an international symposium and a literature review: risk assessment / erosion, qualitative soil protection and soil functions, mountain farming, forestry, wetlands, moors, qualitative soil protection / land take, as well as international / Alps-wide cooperation.