The Land Transition Institute and several professional organizations launch an appeal "for a national land policy"

France faces an alarming situation regarding the protection of its soils

Artificialisation is progressing 4 times faster than population growth, making France the worst performer in the European Union in terms of artificialisation. 90% of artificialisation is carried out on agricultural land, while the sector is on the front line in the fight to mitigate and adapt to climate change, which is accentuating the effects of natural disasters, particularly floods, droughts and fires. At a time of massive floods (Pas-de-Calais, Alps, Brittany), mega-fires (Landes) and the scarcity of water resources, protecting soils and their functions means protecting populations, reducing the vulnerability of infrastructure and improving the resilience of territories. According to the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) (2018), land restoration and preventing land degradation are more cost-effective than all other climate change mitigation measures.

The call “For a national soil policy” is broken down into 14 key measures which are structured around four main axes:

• Understanding soils and their functions, by implementing tools to measure and protect soil quality, in particular by integrating a soil quality diagnosis into real estate and land transfers;
• Governing soils in a transversal and decentralized manner, through the creation of an interministerial soil delegation and the perpetuation of decentralized governance of land neutrality based on ZAN conferences;
• Financing land sobriety, by setting up a network of regional financing tools and incentive tax measures, such as the modulation of land taxation to encourage the least “artificializing” projects;
• Supporting territories and projects, by increasing the appropriation of the land transition as well as technical engineering support for communities and all stakeholders in land sobriety.

For Jean GUIONY, President of the Land Transition Institute: "Soils are the sine qua non of habitable territories and cities. They are not renewed on a human scale: they are an absolute heritage. However, they are too often the subject of sporadic and dispersed, sectoral measures. Artificialization, contamination, erosion: France is starting from a long way off. As it did for carbon and water, it must propose a clear, integrated national framework, based on shared definitions, adequate means, and ambitious objectives. This is the meaning of the 14 measures of this Call for a national soil policy: define them clearly, protect them unambiguously, massively finance sobriety, and support the territories with suitable engineering."

For Laurence FORTIN, Vice-President of the Brittany Region in charge of territories, economy and housing: "Having long been committed to a trajectory of land sobriety, Brittany defends its soils, guarantors of essential environmental functions and enabling our food sovereignty. Another relationship with our environment is possible, it requires a thorough review of the software for planning our territory. This initiative is an important building block, which is why we support it."

For Jérémy CAMUS, Vice-President of the Lyon Metropolis in charge of agriculture, food and regional resilience: "The ZAN reform calls for a change in practice and vision, in a context of transition in favor of a more sober model in land and protection of territories from climate change. It is a necessity with regard to the preservation of soils, guarantor of the vitality of biodiversity and powerful natural carbon sink. Preserving soils from easy concreting is maintaining our agricultural capacities and contributes to the food sovereignty of our territories."

For Chloé GIRARDOT-MOITIE, Vice-president of the Loire-Atlantique Department: "The massive artificialization of our soils has consequences that we all experience: a gradual erosion of agricultural land that is nevertheless necessary for our food sovereignty, an imbalance in the water cycle through the worsening of the runoff phenomenon and an irreversible loss of biodiversity. Loire-Atlantique is a very dynamic department whose population has doubled in 70 years, and whose artificialization of land has tripled over the same period; it is our responsibility to act to preserve our agricultural and natural spaces."

For Thibaut GUIGUE, President of Métropole Savoie: "Métropole Savoie has been committed to a trajectory of land sobriety for several decades. Elected to take responsibility in a territory that is home to both the largest natural lake and the oldest ski resort in France, we know everyone's attachment to agricultural and natural land. They shape both the great landscape and the living environment for which our residents have chosen to live here, but also an essential intermediary for preserving the sustainable nature of our territorial resources."

For Christophe MILLET, President, National Council of the Order of Architects: "Fertile soils are disappearing. For 40 years, more than 20 hectares of natural, agricultural and forest land have been artificialized each year, representing a 000% increase in urbanization when the population has only increased by 72%. And this is to fuel an urban sprawl that has dominated the creation of the city in recent decades. It weakens residents, leads to dependence on cars and fossil fuels, it spatializes inequalities and contributes to the decline of biodiversity and natural ecosystems. This trajectory is unsustainable. It is now a question of protecting the territory; of reinvesting in what already exists: the city of 20 is already 2050% built!"

For Séverine VERNET, President of the Order of Chartered Surveyors: "Soil is both the setting and the foundation of life. It is the first link in our territories and our landscapes. However, this precious, living and limited resource is too often relegated to the background of development decisions. We can no longer think about urban planning without dedicating the fundamental role of soil in preserving biodiversity and our ecological balances. Limiting artificialization, and better still, restoring already urbanized spaces, is an imperative that is both ecological and societal. This is the challenge that we brought to the National Conference on Land Sobriety, organized by the Order of Expert Surveyors last July. Through concrete proposals, we have initiated a collective reflection to trace an ambitious trajectory towards the ZAN, while ensuring that it is humanly acceptable and taking into account the soil as a priority for its preservation. It is, in fact, necessary to move from a logic of constraint to a logic of opportunity to collectively build desirable territories that are respectful of the environment and more resilient."