1.2 Contact details of resource persons and institutions involved in the assessment and documentation of the Technology

Name of project which facilitated the documentation/ evaluation of the Technology (if relevant)

Preventing and Remediating degradation of soils in Europe through Land Care (EU-RECARE )

Name of the institution(s) which facilitated the documentation/ evaluation of the Technology (if relevant)

Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation (Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation) - Poland

1.3 Conditions regarding the use of data documented through WOCAT

When were the data compiled (in the field)?

28/02/2015

The compiler and key resource person(s) accept the conditions regarding the use of data documented through WOCAT:

Ja

1.4 Declaration on sustainability of the described Technology

Is the Technology described here problematic with regard to land degradation, so that it cannot be declared a sustainable land management technology?

Nee

1.5 Reference to Questionnaire(s) on SLM Approaches

2.1 Short description of the Technology

Definition of the Technology:

Ex-post and ex-ante soil sealing maps

2.2 Detailed description of the Technology

Description:

The technology utilizes soil agricultural maps and provides information on quality of sealed soils.
It involves cellular automata software to build the model of land use change and produce the forecasts for various soil protection scenarios.
Spatial development of the functional areas. These are mostly areas of soil protection for food production purposes. The delineation is based on land productivity information (present on soil-agricultural maps), distribution of high nature value areas, need for establishment of “green rings” around the bigger cities.

The maps will be sent to the municipal authorities, with a scientific comment on the problem. The technology enables determining the scale of the soil sealing threat in the province, also what is the soil quality class of the area of interest. In the municipalities with the greatest soil sealing problem and with perspective to expand in the future, there is a need for new legal regulations to force soil protection in local spatial plans. The regional spatial planning office should become a coordinator for the local spatial planning offices, to raise the knowledge about how to use soil digital maps in spatial planning, especially in the case of protecting the soil against soil sealing process. For the municipalities, large scale maps are produced, which contain results of soil sealing forecasting model.

Land use maps of at least 10-meter resolution are produced for two historical periods through classification of the satellite images and using available local land use information. The information on land use change is superimposed on maps characterizing soil quality in order to detect to what extend the urbanization took place on valuable soils. The new sealed area, reflecting the built up sprawl of at least last 15 years, consists with expansion of the following land use classes: continuous residential area, commercial/industrial area and transport facilities. The soils under these new land use types fully lost their environmental functions.
In the soil sealing forecasts the Cellular Automata-based Metronamica model is used. The software was developed and provided by the Research Institute from Knowledge Systems (RIKS) from Maastricht, The Netherlands. The software utilizes cellular automata model to spatially distribute areas of particular land use classes with assumption that the neighborhood of a cell (surrounding cells) influences the transition of this cell into other land use class in the next time step. The method utilizes land use maps and soil quality maps.

2.3 Photos of the Technology

2.5 Country/ region/ locations where the Technology has been applied and which are covered by this assessment

2.6 Date of implementation

If precise year is not known, indicate approximate date:

• less than 10 years ago (recently)

2.7 Introduction of the Technology

Specify how the Technology was introduced:

• during experiments/ research
• through projects/ external interventions

3.1 Main purpose(s) of the Technology

• create beneficial economic impact
• create beneficial social impact

• Create and spread knowledge

3.2 Current land use type(s) where the Technology is applied

Comments:

Major land use problems (compiler’s opinion): Preferential sealing of most productive soils.

3.3 Further information about land use

Number of growing seasons per year:

• 1

Specify:

Longest growing period in days: 215, Longest growing period from month to month: April - October

3.4 SLM group to which the Technology belongs

• ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction

• Creating and sharing knowledge

3.5 Spread of the Technology

Specify the spread of the Technology:

• evenly spread over an area

If the Technology is evenly spread over an area, indicate approximate area covered:

• 100-1,000 km2

Comments:

Total area covered by the SLM Technology is 199 km2.

3.6 SLM measures comprising the Technology

3.7 Main types of land degradation addressed by the Technology

Comments:

Main causes of degradation: urbanisation and infrastructure development, population pressure, governance / institutional
Secondary causes of degradation: inputs and infrastructure: (roads, markets, distribution of water points, other, …)

3.8 Prevention, reduction, or restoration of land degradation

Specify the goal of the Technology with regard to land degradation:

• prevent land degradation
• reduce land degradation

4.1 Technical drawing of the Technology

4.2 Technical specifications/ explanations of technical drawing

This is a schema for soil sealing maps developement.

Technical knowledge required for land users: moderate (Developers)
Technical knowledge required for Administration: high
Technical knowledge required for Researchers: high

Main technical functions: improvement of surface structure (crusting, sealing), increase of infiltration, spatial arrangement and diversification of land use
Secondary technical functions: improvement of water quality, buffering / filtering water
Change of land use type: Limited conversion of agricultural land into urban purposes.
Change of land use practices / intensity level: Steering new constructions to soils with less functions. Limited sealing of high quality soils.

5.1 Climate

5.2 Topography

Indicate if the Technology is specifically applied in:

• not relevant

5.3 Soils

If available, attach full soil description or specify the available information, e.g. soil type, soil PH/ acidity, Cation Exchange Capacity, nitrogen, salinity etc.

Soil fertility: High
Soil drainage/infiltration: Medium (ranked 1) and poor (ranked 2)
Soil water storage capacity: Medium

5.4 Water availability and quality

5.6 Characteristics of land users applying the Technology

Indicate other relevant characteristics of the land users:

Population density: > 500 persons/km2

5.7 Average area of land owned or leased by land users applying the Technology

5.8 Land ownership, land use rights, and water use rights

Land ownership:

• individual, titled

Land use rights:

• individual

5.9 Access to services and infrastructure

6.1 On-site impacts the Technology has shown

Socio-economic impacts

Production

Water availability and quality

Socio-cultural impacts

Ecological impacts

Water cycle/ runoff

Soil

Biodiversity: vegetation, animals

6.2 Off-site impacts the Technology has shown

6.5 Adoption of the Technology

Comments:

There are examples of land use and soil maps for spatial planing in cities of Central Europe, e.g. Stuttgart. it is impossible to assess the percentage of users.

6.7 Strengths/ advantages/ opportunities of the Technology

Strengths/ advantages/ opportunities in the compiler’s or other key resource person’s view
Analysis of various scenarios possible
Decisions in spatial planning based on empirical data in spatial format

6.8 Weaknesses/ disadvantages/ risks of the Technology and ways of overcoming them

Weaknesses/ disadvantages/ risks in the compiler’s or other key resource person’s view	How can they be overcome?
Lack of regulations forcing use of the technology	Pressenting examples of implementation in order to encourage to apply at local level strategies
Potential errors in forecasts	Improving the data quality and model effectiveness.

7.1 Methods/ sources of information