Soil management guidelines in Spain and Portugal related to EU Soil Protection Strategy based on analysis of soil databases

• Soil protection policies are crucial for environmental sustainability.
• Soil information databases are important tools in decision-making.
• Key soil features must be considered to carry out soil management initiatives.
• Soil conservation programs should be adopted jointly in the Iberian Peninsula.

The prevailing soil group in the Iberian Peninsula is Cambisols, followed by Regosols and Leptosols. In addition, Luvisols, Fluvisols and Calcisols also cover part of this territory. The processes that degrade soil quality need to be continuously addressed, so that policies for protecting the sustainability of land use practices (e.g., agriculture) and reuse of contaminated sites can be improved.To establish appropriate soil management principles, this paper reviews two important soil information databases in Spain and Portugal, which have been chosen based on the amount and quality of the information they contain. These databases include characterizations of selected soil parameters and information on the current state of the soil resources. Our study confirmed that areas with lower organic carbon content also have higher crusting and erodibility. Soil connectivity is a key concept for developing integrated approaches to planning and management of soil as a natural resource. A set of indices of connectivity is identified to establish guidelines for soil management decision-support protocols. The key factors for regulatory decisions in the EU Soil Protection Strategy context are soil properties (organic carbon, among others), soil degradation (erosion), soil contamination state, topography and land use.Considering the interaction of the identified key factors, “Sector Soil Units” are proposed as a dimensionless measuring concept to develop integrated and coordinated soil protection policies for relatively small and homogeneous areas on the Iberian Peninsula, regardless of national and regional borders.