1. Economic Evaluation of Soils Vala Ragnarsdottir

2. All data from Stijn Reinhart, Wageningen The method: basic design Cost Benefit Analysis Define alternatives Compare measures with non-action scenario Quantify the effects of measures Valuation based on soil functions

3. Extent of soil degradation in Europe Water erosion (arable land) – PESERA (vulnerability) – >0.5 t/ha/yr – Combined with CORINE 2000 (arable land) Soil organic matter – OCC data from European Soil Database + pedotransfer rules – 2% limit, or 3.4% SOM – Overlap with erosion measure: SOM measure only on areas of low erosion risk Compaction – Susceptibility data (high & very high) Salinization – Irrigated land in Mediterranean countries + Hungary

4. Forestry – Combination of PESERA & CORINE/forest – Calculation of total area harvested per year: 8.2% Construction – Combination of PESERA & CORINE/building sites – Correction factors according to extent of urban area – Roads not included Extent of soil degradation (forestry & construction)

5. Areas of application [2][2] Irrigated area in Southern Europe.

6. On-site costs Based on agri-environment schemes – (subsidy must cover difference between farmer’s benefit and total cost) – Add on-site benefit On literature Calculated per hectare: – Cost/ha * area of application = total cost

7. Areas of application

8. On-site benefits Erosion effect on productivity: local studies, but difficult to generalize – Rooting depth – Water retention – Loss of nutrients – Conclusion: on-site benefits in Europe must be low Comparison of different figures in literature – Educated guess of average impact in affected areas Cumulative discounted benefit (erosion effect incremental) – 20 years for erosion and SOM, 4 years for compaction – 4% discount rate

9. Off-site benefits Erosion: – Based on EEA figure of € 32/ha/year – transformed into tonnes of sediment – Benefit = avoided cost of dredging + disposal sediment + removal of pollution from water SOM loss: – Same, plus carbon storage effect Nothing for compaction Salinization: rough indication as % of on-site benefits

10. The big picture

11. Thank you © Wageningen UR