12/06/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 12 June, the European Commission organised a high level conference on the role of soil management in climate change mitigation and adaptation. The EU's soil contains more than 70 billion tonnes of organic carbon. Organic matter plays a fundamental role supporting soil fertility, retaining water, sustaining biodiversity and regulating the global carbon cycle - but organic matter is in decline. When organic matter is exposed to oxygen in the atmosphere, the carbon in the organic matter combines with the oxygen to produce carbon dioxide, thus contributing to the greenhouse effect and global warming. Large quantities have been lost into the atmosphere in recent years (13 million tonnes of carbon from its soils each year), the Commission points out in a press release, calling on the Council to adopt a directive on soil protection, along the lines of that which it had blocked last December (EUROPE 9570). (A.B./transl.jl)