Abstract
There are many national and European initiatives ongoing which are raising the profile of soil protection and use. With this greater consideration of soil comes the need to determine the state of UK soils and to develop processes to monitor future change. Monitoring information is required to help policy makers understand the current state of the environment and how it is changing, and to understand the pressures placed upon it. Information from monitoring is needed to show how we are meeting national and international laws and agreements for protection the environment. Additionally, monitoring information will also support the development and implementation of future soil and environmental policy by providing evidence on the state of soils. This project forms part of the programme of work funded and overseen by the UK Soil Inicators Consortium (http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/land/soil/research/indicators/consortium/index.htm) and will, building on previous UKSIC work, design a new UK soil monitoring scheme. The project is being managed by the Environment Agency.
United Kingdom