The environment of Belgium is generally affected by the high population density in most of the country. However, due to consistent efforts by the various levels of government in Belgium, the state of the environment in Belgium is gradually improving. These efforts have led to Belgium being ranked as one of the top 10 countries in terms of environmental protection trends. However, water quality still suffers from a relatively low, yet increasing percentage of sewage waste-water treatment, and from historical pollution accumulated in sediments. Air quality is generally good to average, but is affected by emissions from traffic and house heating, and industrial air pollution blowing over from the neighboring heavily industrialized Ruhr-area in Germany. Biodiversity is lower in Flanders than in Wallonia because of population density and fragmentation of habitats, but efforts are being made to boost bio-diversity through connecting fragmented forests and national parks through wildlife crossing "ecoducts" such as in Kikbeek. Belgium has one of Europe's highest waste recycling rates. In particular, the Flemish region of Belgium has the highest waste diversion rate in Europe. Almost 75% of the residential waste produced there is reused, recycled, or composted. Since the 1993 State Reform, the environment is a regional responsibility, with the Flemish, Walloon and Brussels-Capital Regions responsible for environmental matters in their respective territories. This has led to differences in legislation and separation of measurements and publication of statistics.
Air
In Flanders, emission of non-methane-VOC has decreased from 200 kton in 1990 to around 100 kton in 2006, because of lower emissions from transport and industry. These two however remain the most important VOC polluters. Particulate matter emissions and environmental concentrations have decreased since 1995, but little improvement is visible since 2000. European Union targets for average daily PM10 concentrations in 2005 have not been met and a significant increase was seen in 2006 compared to 2005. The problem is mostly situated in cities and industrial areas. Total acidifying emissions have decreased very rapidly since 1990, but NOx still remains a problem. Half of NOx emissions are due to transport. Photo-chemical air pollution remains a problem. On hot summer days, ozone levels frequently surpass EU targets. In 2006, the average was 6970 ug/m3 while the EU target is 5800 ug/m3. Greenhouse gas emissions have fallen from 90 Mton CO2-eq in 2003 to 85 Mton CO2-eq in 2006. The Kyoto target for Flanders is 82.5 Mton during the period 2008-2012.
Water
Although Belgium still faces challenges such as river water pollution, on average, the water quality is improving quickly, mainly because of increasing waste-water treatment. In recent years, salmon and trout is seen again in Belgium's main rivers. Moreover, according to the EU Commission, the water quality at the Belgian coast was ranked excellent in over two out of three locations where samples were taken.
Soil
Belgium has a relatively flat but diverse landscape and a variety of soils throughout the country. Belgium has cooler and wetter conditions compared to much of the rest of Europe due to the North Sea. Flanders has mostly sandy and clay soil types due to the region's location near the sea. Wallonia has a more hilly terrain with the soil composed oflimestone, phyllites, quartzite, shales, and sandstones.
Soil contamination
Parts of Flanders used thermal processes to extract zinc from zinc ore until 1970, resulting in heavy metal contamination in the area. In the south of Belgium, the deposition of airborne pollutants from the industrial areas of Antwerp and the Ruhr is contributing to the effects of soil contamination in acid sandy soils. Agricultural areas have high concentrations of phosphates due to heavy use of fertilizers in the past.
Noise
Car traffic is the main cause of noise pollution in Belgium, with noise from trains, airplanes, and other transportation methods as contributing factors. In order to reduce noise pollution, the capital region of Brussels has announced several measures including support for quieter public and private transport fleets, extension of limited speed zones, increased use of quiet road pavement, and promotion of using acoustic insulators in construction and renovation of new buildings.
