Unravelling the Drivers of Soil Health: A Standardised Typology and Evidence Synthesis Across Europe

Abstract. Diverse and dynamic drivers shape European soils, and with most soils considered unhealthy, understanding these drivers is essential for effective soil management. Yet inconsistent terminology and classification across studies limit comparison and synthesis of evidence. This study addresses this gap through a systematic synthesis of 451 studies and an iterative standardisation process involving expert-based classification of soil health drivers, resulting in a standardised typology. The typology groups drivers into six categories: technology and management, nature and environment, demography, policy and institutional arrangements, socio-cultural context, and economy, and provides a basis for examining patterns in driver representation across land use types, locations, and Soil Health Objectives (SHOs) defined by the Horizon Europe Soil Mission. Technology and management drivers, together with climate-related drivers within the nature and environment category, are the most frequently represented across agriculture, forest, nature, and urban land uses. The evidence base is geographically uneven, revealing where research attention has concentrated across Europe: Mediterranean countries are strongly represented, while Baltic, Balkan, and Eastern European countries remain comparatively underrepresented. Driver categories are also shown to interact rather than operate in isolation. For example, policy instruments such as the Nitrates Directive have stimulated the development and adoption of fertiliser recovery and replacement technologies, illustrating how institutional drivers can influence technological and management responses relevant to soil health. By providing a standardised typology and evidence map, this study reduces conceptual fragmentation, identifies concrete regional and thematic gaps, and provides an empirical basis for more integrated soil health research, monitoring, and governance.