Soil degradation leads to the loss of organic soil material (and thus of organically bound carbon), which in turn entails a loss of the soil’s capacity to operate as a carbon sink.

Calls on the Member States to establish a policy of soil protection by appropriate soil treatment methods, taking account of the importance of organic materials in the soil for its fertility, water retention capacity and ability to function as a carbon sink, and to consider the possibilities of using biochar;

15. Stresses the need for Member States to use rural development funds to enhance adaptation to climate change in agriculture and forestry; recalls the role that soil organic matter plays in terms of soil fertility and water retention capacity and as a carbon sink and invites the Community to adopt and support appropriate soil management practices that maintain soil organic matter levels across European soils as an effective way for adapting to increasing temperatures and changes in rainfall patterns; underlines the need for adequat ...[+++]e crisis prevention and risk management measures at the Community level as well as at national and regional levels, as the number of crises will clearly rise in the future, with particular reference to a systematic land management effort ensuring longer water retention times and a lower fire burden on forests; believes that risk management should be made an integral and explicit part of EU cohesion policy;

Appropriate agricultural and forestry practices can contribute to the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and preservation of the carbon sink effect and organic matter in soil composition, and can also help in adapting to the impacts of climate change;

Soil organic matter is an important reservoir of carbon and soils are now considered as sinks in relation to climate change.

Serious repercus- sions on fishermen and coastal farmers (over 1OO OOO people affected) Cyclones 198O 1 3OO OOO France 8 OOO people affected ; (Reunion) hundreds of dwellings destroyed ; agricultural losses (11O million ECU) 1987 25O OOO France "Clotilda" Miscellaneous 1985 2OO OOO Belgium Heysel stadium tragedy 39 deaths and hundreds of people injured following violence 1987 25O OOO United Sinking of Kingdom "Herald of Free Enterprise" off Zeebrugge Cold spell 1987 2 5OO OOO All Community This assistance countries to charitable organizations was accompanied by the distribution of 5O million ECU worth of food supplies from Community st ...[+++]ocks.