Abstract

The coming years will see a transformation in the Dutch policy for soil protection, with the focus shifting from soil protection to sustainable use of the soil. Within the framework for sustainable land use, the Dutch Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM) requested RIVM and other institutes to formulate quality references for a 'healthy' soil. Two references were formulated: one for dairy farming on sandy soil and one for natural grassland on sandy soil. References are represented by numerical values for chemical, physical, biological and other parameters. Data for determining references were derived from the database of the soil biological indicator sub-set of the Dutch Soil Monitoring Network. A step-by-step approach was developed to select key parameters from the indicator sub-set. This approach was based on the so-called soil 'ecosystem services', i.e. soil fertility, resistance and resilience against stress and disturbance, the buffer and reactor capacity of the soil, and biodiversity. 'Soil health' can therefore be assumed to be determined with the key parameters only.