Background: Long-term exhaustive industrial and land use activities affected natural, agricultural and forest land by mining (e.g. peat, lignite), contamination, salinization or erosion in vast areas in Europe and left degraded and often abandoned land. Available information suggests strong evidence that these processes will further increase if no action is taken. Furthermore, the potential for the further degradation of land and the multiple services it provides will continue. Affected land in the EU-25 is estimated to about 3,5 million contaminated sites and soils to about 15% of surface area, both varying highly in its nature and consequent impacts. Exclusive for soil degradation the costs for erosion, organic matter decline, salinization, landslides and contamination would be up to €38 billion annually for EU25. As a consequence, soil and landscape functions are harmfully reduced or sites and landscapes even destroyed, and surface and ground water contaminated. The knowledge about dimensions and especially the grade of degradation is still low, hindering an ecological sound and an economically viable reclamation of these sites and water bodies in a landscape context towards bringing back to ecological functions for alternative adapted land use forms. The direct impacts of degradation are a major cause for concern; however, the indirect consequences and the loss of services potentially have greater implications for society.
Goal: Develop suitable restoration and rehabilitation approaches along the SSW approach to ensure the ecological and socio-economic values of degraded land appropriate to site conditions and type and intensity of degradation
Rationale from the themes: Demand: Dimensions, regional distribution and intensity versus quality of degraded land are rather unknown, current knowledge is still based on rough estimations. The data base is very weak and insecure, the knowledge about the current ecological potentials concerning important functions for soils, water bodies and organisms poor. According to the nature and intensity of degradation, future potential for sites, landscapes and regions on the one hand, and for the economics (both restoration and rehabilitation costs and benefits) on the other has to be known in order to complete future potentials for biomass production and ecological functions, especially water household in landscapes. Thus current and future potential for food and non-food production or environmental purposes (water in landscapes, bio-diversity, water retention areas) has to be investigated.
Natural Capital: Similar to demand, the knowledge about the current status of natural capital, its areal dimensions and distribution, the endangerment and released elements and ecosystem functions and services of degraded sites and landscapes is insufficient. There is a strong demand on specific (degradation focused) mapping and assessment of natural capital. This knowledge will dominantly determine assessment and, for future valorization of degraded sites, restoration and rehabilitation techniques. Crucial to be known are therefore specific functional ecological targets for degraded sites in a regional or landscape context.
 
Land Management: In Europe management of industrially degraded landscapes resorts on a long experience and tradition. Good knowledge is available in techniques for brownfields. However, since land degradation comprises highly variable causes and types, appropriate rehabilitation and restoration procedures and techniques are required. Approaches concern industrially contaminated sites (e.g. de-contamination), agricultural land (e.g. cropping systems, tillage, water management), forests (fly ash and heavy metal or acidic impacts) and natural land (disturbance of habitat structures or eutrophication). Beside restoration or rehabilitation techniques, another main target is how to integrate and optimize the specific management in spatial planning processes. Even if there is knowledge related to restoration and rehabilitation of contaminated land available, a sustainable management should be continuously updated, fine-tuned and disseminated in order to keep the implementation (including policy making) sustainable, cost-effective and capable to tackle possible risks due to contamination.
Net Impact: Both the degradation process as well as restoration of rehabilitation of land is dominantly affected by external man-made and climate induced factors. Considering net impacts therefore is crucial not only for protect land in the future, but also for appropriate handling and management of degraded land in any circumstances. Key questions on the one hand are efficient, economically viable restoration or rehabilitation activities: how to make those for contaminated soil, groundwater, and sediments sustainable and cost-effective. Which potential for soil and landscape functions can be expected in the medium and long term. And how can funds or incentives be used in a sustainable way, and what will be the acceptance by the civil society. Tools for decision support are therefore indispensible.
So what? Land is a vital resource enabling the production of food, the preservation of biodiversity, and facilitating the natural management of water systems and acting as a carbon store. Appropriate management can protect and maximize the services land provides to society. The degradation of land is, however, common in Europe and a consequence of physical, chemical and biological shifts driven by environmental, social and economic pressures. Land degradation is the consequence of multiple processes that both directly and indirectly reduce the utility of land. Due to the high extend of degraded land and areas, reversing degradation into functionally valuable land is indispensable. The concrete goals for restoration or rehabilitation have to be specified according to the type and intensity of degradation on the one hand, and the specific target conditions on the other; just using general ecological value targets used for un-degraded land is inadequate. Thus linking classification of degradation together with future targets for future alternatives (soils, ecosystem functions, water resources, biomass production) are necessary reaching assessment to planning and realization. The application of organic residues with very low contaminant level (e.g. urban composts, residues from food industry, treated grey water) as part of restoration has to be investigated. Here learning from good practices for resetting degraded land into ecological functions (historical experiences) is a prerequisite for future innovative management and spatial planning. The legal framework and private ownership will significantly determine the options and realization for re-grading land; thus considering socio-economic and legal conditions will play a crucial for restoration or rehabilitation. Therefore dedicated research is needed to elaborate degradation-type and region-specific restoration and rehabilitation approaches for valorization of degraded areas.