Soil sealing and soil removal, as part of the soil artificialisation aspect of land take, are different from the growth of settlements, as they do not necessarily constitute land use change, but rather a concrete and measurable change in the soil cover and soil characteristics. Soil sealing and soil removal can cause the loss, often irreversibly, of the capacity of soils to provide vital ecosystem services, such as provision of food and biomass, water and nutrients cycling, a basis for biodiversity or carbon storage. Sealed soil also exposes human settlements to higher flood peaks and more intense heat island effects.
Text as published in the Official Journal, reproduced verbatim (including any typographical quirks of the source). For the authentic version, see EUR-Lex.
