The publication of this Handbook was supported by the Russian Federation

Types of monitoring
. The countries that participate in this seminar are advised to create a 
permanent system of  background, industrial and scientific monitoring.
Background (control) – an initial assessment of  the study site that gives a conventional baseline 
measurement. Such background monitoring provides data on soil properties in their natural state, 
which can later be compared to those in ploughed soils and allow for the detection of  trends and 
intensities of  man-induced soil transformation. If  it is not possible to have reference to the natural 
state of  a site, the first set of  measurements should be used as baseline information.