085 - Combatting soil degradation and artificialisation

085 - Combatting soil degradation and artificialisation

Latest version in this language: Version for electronic vote | Published on: 03 Oct 2021

AWARE that soils are reservoirs of biodiversity, ensuring numerous ecosystem services such as food production, climate regulation, water quality and human well-being in general, and that they can be maximised when soils are in good health;

AWARE that faced with the growing demands on soils by human activities, this limited and non-renewable resource is subject to pressures that have an impact on its quality and restrict its availability;

RECALLING that soil degradation is one of the major pressures on biodiversity: the physical destruction of soils, functional modifications, or artificialisation, or soils covering most of the areas being used for human activities (towns, homes, economic infrastructures, transport networks, some agricultural land, forest land and brownfields);

CONSIDERING that the degradation and artificialisation of soils leads to an increase in the effects linked to climate change such as the increased vulnerability to floods, the rise in greenhouse gas emissions due to the impacts on ways of life (increase in the time spent in means of transportation, the use of cars, the building of car parks, etc.), heat islands in towns and cities, etc.;

NOTING that all countries, developed or emergent, are directly dependent on the health of soils, but that soil health and the phenomenon of artificialisation do not always correlate with a country’s real needs nor its health;

FURTHER NOTING that states, as well all private and public economic players and all sectors (property, tourism, industry, agriculture) do not seem to integrate this problem adequately into their development strategies and projects;

NOTING however with interest the work by certain states, which have carried out land use planning policies for their territory, objectives for limiting the consumption of natural, agricultural and forestry areas (green belts around towns, a zero net artificialisation goal) or economic levers (market for the rights to create an artificial environment, environmental tax incentives);

SATISFIED that numerous construction techniques mitigate the harmful effects of the degradation of soils (green roofs, pools, etc.) and allow for the restoration and improvement of ecosystem services; and

CONSIDERING that, despite the national initiatives and possible ways to improve soil health or to alleviate the soil artificialisation phenomenon, no global response has been formulated;

The IUCN World Conservation Congress, at its session in Marseille, France:

1. ASKS the states, sub-national and local governments at different levels to:

a. establish land use plans to curb the artificialisation of soils and improve their health, setting specific goals for the sustainable maintenance of non-artificialised soils;

b. develop policies for the renaturation and the de-artificialisation of soils, supporting the techniques for the reduction of the effects of soil sealing;

c. give priority to constructions on soils that have already been degraded or artificialised and apply circular economy principles (multifunctionality, shared usage, reversibility, etc.); and

d. propose economic incentive levers to:

i. preserve natural and agricultural areas of high ecological value, notably favouring virtuous land strategies and involving private owners;

ii. encourage the revaluation and optimisation of built-up land; and

iii. draw up strategies for the payment of ecosystem services and voluntary conservation aid programmes;

2. CALLS ON private and public economic players to include the fight against soil degradation or artificialisation in their development strategies, and to report on their initiatives, notably through their extra-financial reports;

3. ASKS non-governmental organisations and IUCN Members to collaborate with all the stakeholders in order to support these approaches through expertise, education and specific actions;

4. ASKS the competent agencies to reinforce controls and sanctions if necessary; and

5. ASKS IUCN to work with national and international soil organisations, in order to make progress in the fight against soil degradation and artificialisation.

Cette motion est volontairement restreinte à la définition de l’artificialisation donnée par l’ESCO 2017. Le terme d’artificialisation des sols désigne les surfaces retirées de leur état naturel (friche, prairie naturelle, zone humide, etc.), ou de leurs usages forestiers ou agricoles. Les sols dégradés par des pratiques agricoles intensives ou des mauvaises gestions forestières par exemple ne sont pas concernés par cette motion. Sont pris ici en considération l’urbanisation, l’étalement urbain, la fragmentation par des infrastructures. Le terme d’imperméabilisation fait référence au degré le plus élevé d’artificialisation.
Un regard particulier serait à apporter aux pays émergents où les mesures de protections peuvent être soumises à des pressions difficilement contrôlables.
  • Association de Gestion des Ressources Naturelles et de la Faune de la Comoé-Léraba [Burkina Faso]
  • Association Française des Entreprises pour l'Environnement [France]
  • Association Les Eco Maires [France]
  • Associazione Italiana per il World Wildlife Fund (WWF-Italy) [Italy]
  • Benin Environment and Education Society [Benin]
  • Cameroon Environmental Watch [Cameroon]
  • Centre international de droit comparé de l`environnement [France]
  • Coastal Area Resource Development and Management Association [Bangladesh]
  • Conservation des Espèces Marines [Côte d'Ivoire]
  • Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche [Italy]
  • Fédération des conservatoires d'espaces naturels [France]
  • Fédération des parcs naturels régionaux de France [France]
  • Fédération Nationale des Chasseurs [France]
  • Fondation d'Entreprise Biotope pour la Biodiversité [France]
  • Fondo Mundial Para la Naturaleza (WWF Colombia) [Colombia]
  • France Nature Environnement [France]
  • Istituto Pangea -Onlus- Istituto Europeo per l`Educazione e la Formazione Professionale per l`Ambiente [Italy]
  • Ministère de l'Europe et des Affaires étrangères [France]
  • Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle [France]
  • Reserves Naturelles de France [France]
  • SYLVIA EARLE ALLIANCE (DBA MISSION BLUE) [United States of America]

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