Environmental Quality of Agricultural Soils

Impacts on the environment have occurred in varying forms and intensities on the different media: soil, water and air. Soil, as an important component of ecosystems, with peculiar characteristics of interaction with fauna and flora, has been the object of study and protection. Currently, several countries use legal criteria for soil protection, either through generic guideline values or through case-by-case risk assessment. In Brazil, the state of S o Paulo pioneered the publication of guidance values for soil and groundwater in 2001 (CETESB, 2001) and updated them in 2005 (CETESB, 2005).