Europe has a long history of mining, industrialisation, intensive agriculture/forestry and urbanisation. It remains one of the most densely populated and utilised land areas on earth. These factors have led to interrelated problems of land degrada¬tion and contamination which affect both the land and the coastal zone. Deficiency conditions in crops, agricultural animals and possibly man are increasing, partly as a result of land degradation.
Redevelopment of contaminated land is becoming increasin¬gly difficult because of legislative and fiscal controls. This is despite the need to reutilise "brown field" sites rather than extend develop¬ment into "green field" areas.Throughout Europe public concern about the environment is growing. In response, national governments and the European Union (EU) are attempting to develop policies, legislation and infrastructure, such as the European Environment Agency (EEA). Attempts are also being made to establish "Safe Levels" of Potentially Harmful Elements and Species (PHES), but these are often based on limited and/or inade¬quate informati-on. The available data on environmental geochemical baselines and radioactivity are not systematic in coverage or quality and, therefore, are not of the standard required to quantify the distribution of PHES at the European scale as a basis for policy-making and monitoring future change to the environment
