Bodenschutz durch prioritäre Gebiete (English shop)

Möglichkeit und Notwendigkeit eines gebietsbezogenen Bodenschutzes vor dem Hintergrund des europäischen und nationalen Rechts

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This dissertation offers a contribution to the debate on area-based soil protection. Its central question is whether soil as an environmental medium is sufficiently protected at various levels or whether regulatory deficits exist. The scope of the study was limited to those threats to soil that have emerged as decisive in the European debate on a soil framework directive: erosion, loss of organic matter, compaction, salinisation, landslides and subsidence, desertification, adverse effects of climate change on soil, loss of soil biodiversity and acidification. Owing to its multidimensional problem structure and its cross-sectoral character, the complex subject of soil protection requires an interdisciplinary approach. The study shows that there is a need for European legislation introducing priority areas for soil protection, and demonstrates what such areas might look like and how they can be implemented in practice. A European legal act with limited integrative effect appears particularly suitable for this purpose.

Taken as a whole, the study accomplishes two things: first, it analyses the current state of soil protection law; second, it clarifies preliminary soil-science questions concerning the necessity of anchoring new instruments in law, in order subsequently to examine the concept of priority areas with regard to its potential for soil protection and to take a position on the prospects for further development of the law. Bringing together the findings of soil-science and legal perspectives ultimately allows a balanced assessment of the instrument of protected area designation. A concluding regulatory proposal is based on these findings.