______________________________
Table of Contents
- Farewell and Season Greetings
- COP15 agreement to halve nutrient pollution
- ClientEarth and WWF Legal Complaint Over Nitrogen Pollution
- Appointment of Co-Chairs of UNEP Nitrogen Working Group
- Updated UNECE Guidance Document Released
- INMS Website Updates and New Resource Library
- New N Footprint Tool and N-Print Website Now Live!
- INMS at COP 27
- Nitrogen News
Farewell and Season Greetings
Our huge thanks to Ashleigh Albrecht and Natalie Hodde who have greatly supported the INMS Project Coordination Unit since 2019 and 2022 respectively. Ashleigh played an instrumental role in organising our in-person INMS meetings and Natalie's work has been key in updating the INMS website and supporting us on our reports to UNEP since joining us at the start of this year. Both have been incredible assets to the INMS team and will be greatly missed. We wish them all the best with their new endeavors! Please note that we may be slower to respond than normal during this staff transition. Thanks for your patience during this time.
As the year draws to a close we want to thank you - the wider INMS community for all of your efforts and we look forward to working with you in 2023 in the final stages of the INMS Project! We wish you a peaceful end of year period.
Please note that the INMS office will be closed from 23rd December 2022 - 8th January 2023 inclusive.
______________________________
COP15 agreement to halve nutrient pollution by 2030
The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) was adopted at the UN Biodiversity Conference: COP15 in Montréal. This landmark UN Agreement contains a) four long-term goals for 2050 related to the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity and b) 23 action-oriented global targets for urgent action over the decade to 2030. The actions set out in each target need to be initiated immediately and completed by 2030.
Target 7 is the key agreement of the GBF from a nitrogen perspective, as it sets out the following action on nutrient pollution: "[...]reducing excess nutrients lost to the environment by at least half including through more efficient nutrient cycling and use[...]".
ClientEarth and WWF Legal Complaint Over Nitrogen Pollution
ClientEarth and WWF have launched a legal complaint to the Office for Environmental Protection against the Environment Agency (England) for its failure to monitor and enforce key environmental laws critical to addressing nitrogen pollution from farms across England.
The complaint alleges that the Agency is not taking robust action to deter pollution, with only one civil sanction applied between January 2020 and December 2021.
Given the high levels of nitrogen pollution in England, ClientEarth and WWF have accused the Environment Agency of “an unlawful abdication of its statutory responsibilities”.
______________________________
Appointment of Co-Chairs for UNEP Nitrogen Working Group
Congratulations to the new Co-Chairs of the UNEP Nitrogen Working Group:
Mr. Ved Prakash Mishra, Director, Hazardous Substance Management Division, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of India
Mr. Mihai Constantinescu, Institutional Coordinator, Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests of Romania
______________________________
Updated UNECE Guidance Document Released
‘Nitrogen Opportunities for Agriculture, Food & Environment’ is the first ever United Nations Guidance Document on Integrated Sustainable Nitrogen Management. It brings all major forms and impacts of nitrogen together for multiple environmental and economic benefits. The guidance document was published November 2020 by UKCEH.
This major technical document is a new published version of the UNECE Guidance Document on Integrated Sustainable Nitrogen Management (ECE/EB.AIR/149, available in English, French, and Russian) which was formally adopted by the Executive Body of the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution at its 40th session (18th December 2020). It includes the original agreed text together with additional images, image captions, a foreword, author and contributor names and affiliations.
______________________________
INMS Website Updates and New Resource Library
Check out the updated Publications and Resource library on the INMS Website. This includes journal articles, reports, and books published by the INMS network and other Nitrogen resources such as the Nitrogen MOOCS and videos from past events.
Other additions include a new Policy Documents and Resources page, a page for GEF IW:LEARN INMS Stories, and updated events.
If there's any publications you think are missing, please let us know at inms@ceh.ac.uk.
______________________________
New N Footprint Tool and N-Print Website Now Live!
The N-Print team is pleased to announce that both the new multi-country multi-language version of the nitrogen footprint calculator and the redesigned N-Print website are now live. This updated tool expands accessibility to a broader range of users to help share the nitrogen story.
The tool currently has N-footprint calculators for Australia, Brazil, Denmark, Portugal, Ukraine, and the US. Languages that are available are English, Portuguese, Danish, and Ukrainian. Since the release, several additional countries have already expressed interest!
The newly designed calculator is accompanied by the redesigned N-Print website, which provides more information about the nitrogen challenge and nitrogen footprints to the public. Classroom exercises are available upon request for teachers interested in using the nitrogen footprint tool.
This tool is a product of an INMS collaboration with a focus on demo region countries, it provides the foundation for an expansion of N footprint methodologies to first measure and then manage people’s use of resources.
______________________________
INMS at COP 27
Prof Mark Sutton joined Compassion in World Farming at the Food4Climate Pavilion at COP 27 to speak about the role of nutrient management in agriculture in addressing climate change.
The Food4Climate Pavilion was the first pavilion of its kind. It was dedicated to the need to transform global food systems and urge global leaders to make those more sustainable and resilient.
______________________________
Nitrogen News
- Annual report 2022: UK air pollution by Chief Medical Officer (Agriculture chapter by David Fowler & Mark Sutton)
- COP27 Koronivia Decision - Joint work on implementation of climate action on agriculture and food security
- New Nitrogen Projects Announced (INMS Website)
- Up to 3,000 ‘peak polluters’ given last chance to close by Dutch government (The Guardian)
- South Asian Nitrogen Policy Reports: Nitrogen policy resources (SANH)
- As winters warm, nutrient pollution threatens 40% of U.S. (National Science Foundation)
- Book of Abstracts from the XXI International N Workshop (Oct. 2022)
- Food security: the Commission addresses the availability and affordability of fertilisers in the EU and globally (European Commission)
______________________________
We would like to hear from you! Please email inms@ceh.ac.uk with any updates that you would like us to share in our future newsletter.
Credits:
Created with images by IrisImages - "Winter Holiday Evergreen Christmas Tree Pine Branches Covered With Snow and Falling Snowflakes, Horizontal" • Piman Khrutmuang - "Calendar page flipping sheet close up blur background business schedule planning appointment meeting concept" • Rawpixel.com - "Deers on the road at Glen Etive, Scotland" • KimWillems - "Maastricht, Netherlands 11-13-2022 Old versus new, with a focus on the current nitrogen discussion in the Netherlands with a view on live stock and innovative and sustainable windmill energy " • Tierney - "Yellow light bulb" • terovesalainen - "Online news in mobile phone. Close up of smartphone screen. Man reading articles in application. Hand holding smart device. Mockup website. Newspaper and portal on internet."