Description

Professor Louise Heathwaite, Lancaster Environment Centre has been invited to join a new Task Team of the UNEP Global Partnership on Nutrient Management (GPNM).

The GPNM was established in 2009 and is a consortium of governments, scientists, policy makers, private sector, NGOs and international organizations.

The Task Team will focus on phosphorus management, its use-efficiency and the impacts on the environment, and is chaired by Arnoud Passenier, President of the European Sustainable Phosphorus Partnership.

Over 50% of the world’s population is now thought to depend on nitrogen and phosphorus fertilisers for producing their food. To supply this need, some 20 million tonnes of phosphorus are mined every year and nearly half of this – 8x the natural rate of input – enters the world’s oceans, where excess nutrients result in coastal eutrophication.