ooooo
Nutrients are the basic building block of life. More than half the 7 Billion people on the planet are alive today, thanks to innovations on nutrients for agriculture and food. Inefficient use of nutrients has far reaching and cross cutting impacts – Water quality, Air quality, Greenhouse gases, Biodiversity and Soil quality.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2021 in Review
Despite serious impacts of Coivd-19 globally, this has been a year of achievements virtually for GPNM. Several milestones were achieved starting with the celebration of the World Soils Day, where vital links were made between “agriculture and plastics”, by launching an issue paper.
Following up on India’s UNEA 4 Resolution in March 2019, the Lead Ministry of Environment. Forest and Climate Change, Government of India has constituted a National Nitrogen Steering Committee (NNSC) under the Chairmanship of Dr. Shailesh R. Nayak, Former Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences. The Committee comprises of experts from various government sectors, UNEP-India, NGOs and subject experts, dealing with nitrogen. Two meetings were held and major decisions were made towards implementing the UNEA 4 Resolution at the National level. Preparation of a comprehensive Policy Document with available data and information addressing the possible interventions, sustainable nitrogen management and a roadmap for 2030 was discussed. Further, it was decided to develop a GIS-based Nitrogen Management Information System (N2MIS) based on the available information and data to be updated periodically.
Following the UNEA 4 Resolution, a second resolution on nitrogen, moved by the Government of Sri Lanka in the forthcoming fifth UN Environment Assembly is under consideration of UNEA 5.2 to be held in February 2022. One of the important aspects of the proposed resolution is the constitution of an Inter-convention Nitrogen Co-ordination Mechanism (INCOM). Several meetings of the INCOM Task Team Members were held through a Terms of Reference that specifies the establishment of INCOM, organization and its financing strategy.
The 8th triennial conference of the International Nitrogen Initiative (INI) held virtually between May 31-June 3, 2021 adopted the Berlin Declaration. This meeting called for “sustainable management of reactive nitrogen compounds across all sectors of human activity as a crucial step towards achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. The declaration sought integration of sustainable nitrogen management objectives within environmental policy efforts across all scales to maximize the likelihood of improving humanity’s relationship with nitrogen.
In going with the virtual webinar series, impacts of excess Sargassum was deliberated. The Sargassum webinars reviewed the challenges, responses, and collaboration in West Africa and the Caribbean. It is expected to expand the such webinar series with ongoing studies in Pulicat Lagoon, India and Chongming Island, China for exchange of knowledge on impacts of nitrogen for better understanding of ecosystem restoration in these two most populous countries.
In the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration, the World Environment Day was celebrated with a GPNM advocacy event on “Sustainable Nitrogen Management for Ecosystem Restoration”. Many activities are planned in the coming year that would reflect the success of the UN Decade of Ecosystem restoration, globally.
The commitment and accomplishments of Mahesh Pradhan has been truly outstanding over these incredibly tough times. The GPNM has stepped up its activities under his highly efficient coordination. Milcah Ndegwa as competently supported Mahesh and the GPNM through her composed, yet aggressive follow up with several activities that are even more difficult to achieve during the pandemic. Thank you both very much for your sustained hard work and dedication.
I would like to extend my gratitude to Mark Sutton, Vice Chair and to all the Members of the Steering Committee for strongly championing sustainable nitrogen management, commitment of time and technical advice.
I sincerely hope we meet in person next year and take this opportunity to wish you a peaceful, healthy and safe 2022.
India’s National Nitrogen Steering Committee (NNSC)
The Government of India leadership role to the adoption of the ‘Sustainable Nitrogen Management’ resolution during the Fourth session of the UN Environment Assembly, 11 -15 March 2019 was a remarkable achievement. The landmark UNEA4 resolution on Sustainable Nitrogen Management highlights the impact of the nitrogen challenge on the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals because whether its land, food security, biodiversity, pollution or water quality – nitrogen impacts each and every one of the SDGs.
On 22 September 2021 India’s First National Nitrogen Steering Committee (NNSC) was held under the Chairmanship of Dr. Shailesh Nayak, Former Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences. A second meeting was organised on 4 December 2022 to follow up earlier discussions in preparations to the upcoming Resumed session of UNEA-5 (UNEA-5.2) 28 February – 2 March 2022, Nairobi, Kenya.
5th Inter-Convention Coordination Mechanism on Nitrogen (INCOM) Task Team Meeting
On 15 December 2021, the Global Partnership on Nutrients Management (GPNM) participated in the 5th INCOM Task Team Series of Meeting. The webinar was co-convened by UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) to give update on the new Resolution on Sustainable Nitrogen Management proposed by Sri Lanka to the Second Session of the Fifth United Nations Environment Programme; As well as give update on the Inter-Convention Coordination Mechanism on Nitrogen (INCOM) process.
The outcome of the five series meeting of the INCOM will be presented to the 2nd Meeting of the Working Group on Sustainable Nitrogen Management on 12 January 2022.
Plastics in Agriculture - What do we know?
Plastic is omnipresent on farms. It is used to wrap silage, to cover crops, in tubing for irrigation and to transport feed and fertilizer. The biggest contributor to this problem, making up over 40% of the total agri-plastic market, are plastic sheets that are spread over the soil to serve as a sort of plastic mulch.
On 7 December 2021, UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations jointly organized a webinar entitled "Agricultural Plastics: THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY". Approximately 961 registered for the webinar with 386 participating on a 2-hour webinar.
This webinar also marked the formal launch of a UNEP Working Paper on Plastics in agriculture: sources and impacts. This working paper is an initial assessment of the potential impact of plastics used in agriculture. The paper focuses primarily on identifying sources of plastics and examining the fate of plastic residue in agricultural soil. It is expected to be the first in a series, which will also explore the movement of agricultural plastics from source to sea. The aim of the series is to increase knowledge and awareness and to invite discussion and action among relevant stakeholders to reduce plastic contamination of soil and the movement of agricultural plastics into the broader environment.
The report – “Assessment of agricultural plastics and their sustainability: A call for action” – is the first global report of its kind by FAO and raises the alarm. According to data from the report, agricultural value chains each year use 12.5 million tonnes of plastic products. A further 37.3 million tonnes are used in food packaging. The crop production and livestock sectors were found to be the largest users, accounting for 10.2 million tonnes per year collectively, followed by fisheries and aquaculture with 2.1 million tonnes, and forestry with 0.2 million tonnes. Asia was estimated to be the largest user of plastics in agricultural production, accounting for almost half of global usage.
Demonstrations Projects in China and India
Ecosystem dynamics and nutrient management of the Pulicat Lagoon in India
Pulicat lagoon is the second largest brackish water lagoon in India after Chilika. It is shared between two states i.e. 1/3rd in Tamil Nadu and 2/3rd in Andhra Pradesh. Due to deltaic deposits, the lagoon is extensively shallow, averaging ~1.5 m, ranging between 0.5 and 6 m respectively.
UNEP and National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, India engaged in a demonstration project entitled Linking land based activities with ecosystem dynamics and nutrient management of the Pulicat Lagoon in India
The demonstration project is completed, major outputs developed are:
- Analysis of Land use and Land cover around Pulicat lagoon
- Major Land use practices and sources of nitrogen to the Pulicat lagoon
- Nitrogen Use efficiency (NUE)
- Nutrient management & Spatial planning using report cards
Following the successful completion of this project, A phase two demonstration project has been launched entitled “Developing a policy framework towards reducing land based nutrient pollution for improved ecosystem services in Pulicat lagoon” to be completed by May 2022.
Photo credit: Holidify
Ecosystem dynamics and nutrient management of the Chongming Island in China
Chongming Island is the largest alluvial island in the world covering an area of 1,267 km2. It is located on the estuary of the Yangtze River and the western coast of the Pacific Ocean, residing at the midpoint of China’s north–south coastal line. Chongming Island has a unique wetland landscape. Its coastal wetland and tidal flats provide many important ecological
Chongming Island has a unique wetland landscape. Its coastal wetland and tidal flats provide many important ecological services including buffers against tidal surges and staging areas for migratory birds. Due to its extraordinary resources, scenic qualities, and its proximity to the city of Shanghai 45km away, the island is also an attractive tourist destination, and it supports important agricultural and fisheries economies.
Recently, United Nations Environment Programme and Tongji University in China completed a demonstration project entitled "Linking land based activities with ecosystem dynamics and nutrient management of the Chongming Island in China".
The demonstration project is completed, major outputs developed are:
- Analysis of Land use and Land cover around Chongming Island
- Analysis of the ecosystems factors for Chongming Island
- Nitrogen Use efficiency (NUE)
- Nutrient management & Spatial planning using report cards
Photo Credit: Sophie Wang
ooooo
Sargassum Sub-Regional Outlook Bulletin
Source: UWI-CERMES
Mass blooms and stranding of pelagic Sargassum in the Atlantic are becoming more frequent in response to several factors: nutrient enrichment, increased temperature, changes in climatological patterns, but some causes remain unknown. Due to the regional scale of these occurrence and its complexity, its management should be based on basic and applied information generated by different collaborative actors (national and international) through interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary work.
The Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies (CERMES) has launched Sargassum Outlook Bulletin to illustrate the 6-months forecast using the processed satellite image from SAMTool.
Download the bulletin here
ooooo
The global nitrogen time bomb
Source:The Ecologist
The world’s mismanagement of the nitrogen cycle is 'our forgotten environmental crisis'. Overall its concluded that the UK needs to reduce its ecological footprint by 60 per cent, material footprint by 38 per cent, biomass footprint by 48 per cent, phosphorus footprint by 85 per cent and carbon footprint by 85 per cent. The international nitrogen management system project (INMS) was designed to better understand the global cycle of reactive nitrogen and represents the first collaborative activity to deliver an International Nitrogen Management System (INMS) that will combine multiple sets of information from different sectors and integrate reactive nitrogen across the environmental compartments.
Full article is available here
ooooo
Second Observance of the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste
Source: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
On 29 September 2021 The United Nations is calling for stronger action to end the culture of throwing out food uneaten and in so doing, help to address the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature loss and pollution.
Here are 5 tips to reduce food waste:
ooooo
Global Programme of Action (GPA) 25th Year of existence
The General Assembly resolution 51/189 of 16 December 1996, endorsed the Washington Declaration which officially marked the establishment the the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities (GPA). The GPA was adopted by 108 Governments, and the European Commission
Initially, the GPA tackled nine source categories of pollution [1]. However, after the Manila Declaration of 2012, the GPA focused its resources on addressing three priority source categories, namely marine litter, nutrient management, and wastewater through global voluntary multi-stakeholder partnerships of governments, intergovernmental agencies, academia, the private sector, and civil society.
25 years celebration will be organised during the Resumed session of UNEA-5 (UNEA-5.2)on 28 February – 2 March 2022.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
IFA Signs Agreement with FAO to Promote Sustainable Fertilizer Use, Share Knowledge and Collaborate on Statistics
The fertilizer industry is proud to support the FAO’s vision of transformative change and innovation at a live virtual signing of a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the UN agency on December 13 2021.
Under the agreement, IFA and FAO will work together to raise awareness about the International Code of Conduct for the Sustainable Use and Management of Fertilizers (Fertilizer Code), promote education and knowledge transfer and continue their successful collaboration on fertilizer statistics. The agreement follows on from an October 2016 MoU between IFA and FAO and is the latest chapter in a productive history of cooperation between the two organizations since the 1960s.
Read more about the ceremony and agreement in IFA's press release here and in this FAO's newsroom article here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Second e-briefing for the Nitrogen Working Group of the United Nations Environment Programme, 12 January 2022
Fifth Intergovernmental Review Meeting on the Implementation of the Global Programme of Action (GPA), 15 February 2022
Resumed session of UNEA-5 (UNEA-5.2) 28 February – 2 March 2022, Nairobi, Kenya
_______________________________
The Global Partnership on Nutrient Management (GPNM) is a multi-stakeholder partnership comprising of governments, the private sector, the scientific community, civil society organizations and UN agencies committed to promoting effective nutrient management (with a focus on nitrogen and phosphorus) to achieve the twin goals of food security through increased productivity and conservation of natural resources and the environment. UN Environment, through the Coordination Office of the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities (GPA), provides the Secretariat of GPNM. Read more at: www.nutrientchallenge.org. For more information contact Mahesh Pradhan at mahesh.pradhan@un.org or Milcah Ndegwa at milcah.ndegwa@un.org
JOIN the GPNM! Access the application form here.