World’s Soil Resources

The internal stratification within the region and within countries, including the extent of agricultural lands,
depends mainly on bioclimatic conditions which determine agro-ecological zones. According to standard
agro-ecological zoning (Fischer et al., 2002), the European region lies in the following agro-ecological zones:
Arctic (only Greenland and Russia); Boreal continental (Eastern Russia); Boreal sub-continental (Russia,
Scandinavian countries, Greenland); Boreal oceanic (Iceland and Greenland); Temperate continental (Russian
and Kazakhstan); Temperate sub-continental (Eastern and Central Europe, Turkey, South Caucasian countries,
Russia, Central Asian Countries); Temperate oceanic (Western, Central and Northern Europe); Sub-tropical
with winter rainfall (Southern Europe, Turkey, South Caucasus); and Sub-tropical with summer rainfall (only
small areas in Spain and southern France).
The other approach for characterizing the internal stratification of the region is its division according to
the major biomes. The digital map of terrestrial eco-regions presented below (Figure 11.1) delineates the major
biomes found in the European region, based on the World Wildlife Fund’s eco-regions (The Nature Conservancy,
2009).
Produced by EU JRC
Figure 11.1 Terrestrial eco-regions of the European region. Source: Olson et al., 2001.
In brief, the relation of these major zones to agricultural development and soil degradation processes is the
following:
Polar and tundra, and taiga zone
This zone represents a treeless polar ecosystem located in high latitudes in the European region in Russia
and Scandinavia. The climate is characterized by long winters with months of total darkness and extremely
frigid temperatures. Vegetation is mainly scattered, although sometimes it can be patchy, reflecting changes
in soil and moisture gradients. Most precipitation falls in the form of snow during winter time. Soils tend to
be acidic and saturated with water where not frozen. The region is sparsely populated, with agriculture in the
tundra limited to reindeer grazing. Thus agricultural pressure on soils is not very strong; however huge areas
are affected by mining and petroleum extraction. Some land degradation processes are triggered by humans
indirectly. For example, in Siberia the processes of permafrost melting due to climatic change is resulting in the
alteration of topography and causing severe damage to roads and buildings. Waterlogging is also a challenge
in many areas.
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in Europe and Eurasia