Sustainable use of soil

Soil means the loose surface material that covers the consolidated bedrock, including all its components. In some areas there is a weathering zone on the rock’s surface, which means that the contact between the soil and the bedrock may be gradual. Soil is one of our most essential natural resources that also provides the growing medium for forests and arable crops. Healthy soils offer numerous ecosystem services that we are fully dependent on. As much as 95% of food production is based on the land: without the plants that derive their nutrients and growing medium from the soil we would have no oxygen or food. Taking care of soils is one of the environmental benefits produced by agriculture.  

In Finland the bedrock and the loose soil types covering it are usually clearly distinct from each other. The average thickness of the loose soil types is about 5 metres. The most common soil type is moraine. The composition of the underlying bedrock has the clearest impact on the chemical element content of moraine, and the background content of the elements varies in different parts of the country. Finland’s climate conditions are favourable in terms of the creation of organic soil types. Peatlands cover about 30% of the land area. About two thirds of Finland’s carbon stocks are stored in peat. 

Forest soil is an even bigger carbon stock than the tree stand, which means that climate change can be mitigated with appropriate forest management that influences the soil carbon stocks and greenhouse gas flows. Besides this, soil has an important role in the nutrient cycles of agriculture, including those of nitrogen and phosphorus. 

One of the special features of the Finnish soil are the acid sulphate soils formed during the lake and seabed phases after the Ice Age in the Baltic Sea region. The acidity and metals released from these soils cause loading in the coastal rivers and weaken their chemical and ecological status.  

EU policy and international soil cooperation 

EU Soil Strategy

In December 2021 the European Commission published the EU Soil Strategy, where the objective is to achieve healthy soils by 2050.

The EU Soil Strategy aims to ensure that by 2050: 

  • all soil ecosystems in the EU are healthy and more resilient and can thus provide their vital services in future as well. 
  • there is no net land take, i.e. new land is no longer cleared for use, and soil contamination has fallen to a level at which it no longer causes harm to human health or ecosystems. 
  • protection and sustainable management of soil and restoration of degraded soil have become common practices. 

As part of the implementation of the strategy, the Commission published a proposal for a directive on soil monitoring and resilience (Soil Monitoring Law) in July 2023.

Soil Monitoring Law

The European Union Directive on soil monitoring and resilience (Soil Monitoring Law) entered into force on 16 December 2025, and the national legislation must be in force by 17 December 2028. A working group composed of public officials has been appointed to prepare the implementation of the directive and how this will be organised in Finland.

The aim of the Soil Monitoring Law is to achieve healthy soils in the EU by 2050. This will be done by establishing a solid and coherent soil monitoring framework for EU Member States, reducing soil contamination, improving soil health, maintaining soils in a healthy condition, and addressing soil degradation. The directive lays down a framework and measures for the monitoring and assessment of soil health, soil resilience and the management of contaminated sites. The directive also requires Member States to take action that supports landowners and land managers in improving soil health and soil resilience. Damages must be minimised when soil is covered with artificial materials in connection with construction or paving of roads or soil is removed during extraction or construction work. Risks must be minimised in contaminated areas and information on contaminated sites and sites that may be contaminated must be publicly available. 

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and Ministry of the Environment have appointed a working group to prepare the implementation of the directive in Finland. Based on the information and expertise accumulated in this work, a proposal will be formulated on how the implementation of the obligations of the directive should be organised. The term of the working group runs until 18 December 2026.

EU’s Mission Soil

The missions of the Horizon Europe programme are interdisciplinary packages that combine research and innovation to find solutions to global social challenges, promote research, and enhance the involvement and understanding of the citizens.

The Mission Soil is one of the five Horizon Europe missions aimed to find solutions to global challenges. The aim of the Mission Soil is to improve the status of soils in forests, farmlands and urban areas. 

In Finland the work on the mission is promoted by the National Mirror Group led by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. The National Mirror Group was appointed in 2024 and its term runs until the end of 2027. The Climate Unit of the Economic Development Centres serves as the secretariat of the National Mirror Group and assists in the implementation of the mission. 

Read more: 

FAO’s Global Soil Partnership 

The Global Soil Partnership (GSP) was established in 2012 to bring soils onto the international agenda and promote the sustainable use of soils. The GSP is hosted by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization FAO. The GSP is a voluntary partnership that also has various stakeholders as members, not an official decision-making body of the FAO. Under the GSP there are regional partnerships, including the European Soil Partnership ESP. 

The GSP’s mission is to develop the management of the Earth’s limited soil resources to ensure soil health and productivity and, through this, the global food security, and to support other ecosystem services produced by soils. Finland’s active participation in the GSP’s work is coordinated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the Natural Resources Institute Finland.  

Examples of the GSP’s activities:  

  • The World Soil Day organised every year on 5 December  
  • Reports:  
    • Status of World´s Soil Resources
    • Voluntary Guidelines for Sustainable Soil Management 

Monitoring soil status in Finland 

In summer 2023, the Ministry of the Environment published the report ‘Monitoring and State of Finland’s Soil and Policy Instruments for Its Use’ that contains information on the current soil status in Finland and its monitoring. The report examines the state of soil of arable and forest land, mires and urban and built-up areas, and soil contamination as a separate theme. 

The report was compiled by the Finnish Environment Institute, Natural Resources Institute Finland and Geological Survey of Finland. 

Report (in Finnish, abstract in English)

Related links: 

Further information

Eeva Kaura, Ministerial Adviser 
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Natural Resources Department, Unit for Climate, Nature and Land Use Telephone:0295162272   Email Address: