Restoring and Regenerating Degraded Soils

Restoring and regenerating degraded soils refers to intentional actions that transform degraded soils into healthy, functional, resilient, and biologically active systems. It addresses physical, chemical, and biological degradation through regenerative remediation, restoration, and sustainable land management practices. Typical approaches include phytoremediation, bioremediation, organic amendments, regenerative agriculture, agroforestry, peatland restoration, and de-sealing. By improving soil structure, increasing organic matter, enhancing biodiversity, and stimulating biological activity, soil regeneration restores essential functions such as nutrient cycling, water regulation, carbon sequestration, and biomass production.

Recommendations for Implementation

Most interventions focus on the biologically active topsoil layer (approximately 0-30 cm), targeting biological activity, soil organic carbon content, nutrient cycling, water infiltration and retention, structural stability, contamination reduction, biodiversity support, and long-term ecosystem resilience.

Restoring and regenerating degraded soils begin with a site-specific diagnosis of degradation and definition of restoration targets:

Soil should be characterised for physical, chemical and biological properties (including compaction, soil structure, organic matter/carbon, nutrient status, contamination, pH, water regime and biological activity)
Severity and type of degradation should determine the appropriate restoration trajectory (no one-size-fits-all solution)
For contaminated or industrial land, remediation objectives and risks to human health and ecosystems should be assessed before biological or ecological restoration begins.

Physical and chemical restoration are then implemented to address the principal constraints to soil functioning:

Compacted soils can be mechanically or biologically de-compacted
Severely degraded or removed topsoil may require soil reconstruction or replacement with suitable locally available soil materials
In case of contamination, remediation can combine excavation and removal of contaminated soil with less disruptive approaches (phytoremediation, mycoremediation, bioremediation or other in-situ treatments), depending on the contaminant and site conditions
Organic amendments (compost, manure, digestate, biochar) can be used to increase soil organic matter, improve aggregation and water retention, and stimulate biological activity, but their quality and contaminant/nutrient content should be assessed before application.

Biological regeneration through biological, physical, and chemical processes can be used to rebuild soil structure and ecological functioning over time:

On agricultural land, this can include maintaining protective soil cover (with cover crops, crop diversification, agroforestry, etc.) to increase organic inputs and biological activity while reducing erosion and improving water and nutrient cycling
Vegetation and ecosystem restoration should be selected according to local soil, climate and hydrological conditions ; native or locally appropriate species should generally be prioritised
Restoring protective forest cover, with reforestation, diversified forests, urban forests, grasslands, native vegetation and rewilding can be used to stabilise soils, increase organic inputs, restore habitat and reconnect degraded sites with surrounding ecological networks.
In severely degraded landscapes, emphasis should be put on working with natural recovery processes where possible, and using interventions proportionate to the degree to which natural recovery has been impaired.

Regeneration and restoration is a long-term adaptive process rather than a one-off intervention: soil functions should be monitored against the restoration objectives, and management should be adjusted where recovery is insufficient.

Recommendations for Implementation

Examples enhancing soil health

Planning examples

Technical guidance and inspiring research