The map of soil loss by water erosion delineates areas of concern that will require special protection measures, such as financing more sustainable land management practices. As soil erosion has huge impacts on ecosystems, food production, drinking water, carbon stocks and biodiversity, the EU has called for quantitative assessments of soil rates at EU level, and put soil protection at the heart of its environmental agenda. The authors recommend that soil protection measures focus on the 24% of EU lands that experience an average annual soil loss of two tonnes per hectare. According to future land use scenarios, estimations are that rates of soil loss by water will fall slightly by 2050, mainly due to an increase in forest areas. However, pressures to increase the amount of arable land for food and fuel could offset the reduction, unless more sustainable land management practices are applied. On the other hand, climate change scenarios estimate that the soil loss rates may increase by 10-15% by 2050 due to an analogous increase of rainfall-induced erosion in Europe.