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The Nanjing Declaration on Management of Reactive Nitrogen

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The Nanjing Declaration on Management of Reactive Nitrogen Viewpoint The Nanjing Declaration on Management of Reactive Nitrogen JAN WILLEM ERISMAN Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/54/4/286/284101 by guest on 25 September 2021 igh levels of reactive nitrogen food production uses 110 teragrams of International activities Hcompounds—nitrates, ammonia, reactive nitrogen every year, most of Since 1998, when the First International and nitrogen oxides, for example—have which is generated when components Nitrogen Conference was organized in become a threat to the environment on of natural gas are made to react with at- the Netherlands (Erisman et al. 1998), many scales. Indications are that the mospheric nitrogen. The manufacture researchers and decisionmakers have problem will become worse, especially in of fertilizer accounts for 5 percent of cooperated in developing integrated rapidly developing parts of the world. In- global natural gas consumption. approaches to understanding nitrogen- ternational agreements are urgently On the downside, when released into related problems. The Second Interna- needed to combat the problem. The the atmosphere, reactive forms of nitro- tional Nitrogen Conference, held in 2001 Third International Nitrogen Confer- gen create smog and aerosols and in the United States, further strength- ence, which will take place this coming contribute to global warming and ened the scientific findings and saw an October in Nanjing, China, offers an stratospheric ozone depletion. When exploration of balanced strategies to ideal opportunity to reach agreement they fall back to the earth’s surface, they “increase food and energy production on an initial declaration concerning the contribute to acid rain, which corrodes while decreasing environmental impacts” management of reactive nitrogen. Re- buildings, harms plants and forests, and (Cowling et al. 2002). The International searchers and officials should make the acidifies lakes and streams. The excess ni- Nitrogen Initiative (INI), currently a most of this important occasion. trogen causes eutrophication in aquatic project of the Scientific Committee on Although nitrogen makes up about ecosystems, leading to the domination of Problems of the Environment and the 78 percent of the atmosphere, this pool the plant community by one or a few International Geosphere/Biosphere Pro- is almost all in gaseous form, which few species—harmful algal blooms are a gramme, was established to continue this organisms can use. Nitrogen gas is con- common consequence—and thus to a work.INI’s objectives are to assess the verted into usable, reactive forms, how- reduction of biodiversity. In forests, the state of knowledge on nitrogen sources, ever, through both natural and industrial combination of acidification and eu- fluxes, and dynamics in ecosystems at processes. Globally, about 75 percent of trophication is particularly damaging. regional and global scales and to identify the 165 teragrams of reactive nitrogen Acidification decreases the availability areas where problems have developed or produced each year is related in some of base cations by leaching them from the have the potential to develop. The hope way to agriculture, and the remaining soil, thus depriving trees of nutrients. is that this will lead to cost-effective, 25 percent results from the combustion Increased nitrogen loads exacerbate the region-specific solutions. of fossil fuels and from industrial uses of imbalance. Excess reactive nitrogen flows The declaration on the management nitrogen (Galloway et al. 2003). Reac- into groundwater reservoirs, rivers, and of reactive nitrogen that my colleagues tive nitrogen cascades through different then the coastal oceans, where it depletes and I have proposed for consideration at environmental compartments, chang- oxygen and so threatens marine life. the Nanjing conference aims to allow ing forms as it does so and causing di- The growing requirements for food needed levels of food production and verse effects. and energy—especially where there is energy use while taking steps that could On the positive side, the greater pro- too little reactive nitrogen, as in Africa— lead to controls on reactive nitrogen pol- ductivity of agriculture over the past will further fuel the cascade of environ- lution. This will not be simple. If we century—driven almost entirely by fer- mental impacts attributable to reactive were to follow the process that was used tilizers that contain nitrogen—has made nitrogen. Anthropogenic nitrogen ex- to create the Framework Convention on it possible to feed growing numbers of ceeds natural levels by a factor of two, but Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol humans. Indeed, 40 percent of the ultimately the source of the nitrogen is (which deal with carbon dioxide emis- world’s population would not be alive unimportant. What is important is the sions), we could only try to reach agree- but for this massive alteration of the nat- adoption of an integrated approach to ment on controlling the production of ural nitrogen cycle (Smil 2001). Globally, combating nitrogen pollution. reactive nitrogen from energy use and 286 BioScience • April 2004 / Vol. 54 No. 4 Viewpoint agriculture, and it takes years to negoti- cover from the harmful effects of emis- convention on nitrogen should sign the ate international agreements. I feel that sions. declaration, together with the Chinese we will make better progress if the dec- government as the initiator. The United laration merely affirms that governments The Nanjing declaration Nations and its regional commissions, accept the importance of the subject and The science of reactive nitrogen in the en- supported by the United Nations Envi- goes on to formally charge INI with cre- vironment has passed beyond recognition ronment Programme, would be the best ating scientific and political paths that of the seriousness of the problem. Evi- option for this role, given the success of would lead to measures limiting pro- dence of reactive nitrogen’s multiple ef- earlier conventions. Through such a duction of reactive nitrogen. fects has been presented not only at the body, countries all over the world will be This phased approach would be simi- two international conferences on the sub- able to participate in discussions and, lar to that employed successfully in the ject but also in many papers published in one hopes, come to agreement on a con- Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/54/4/286/284101 by guest on 25 September 2021 creation of the Convention on Long- refereed academic journals. The next vention on management of reactive Range Transboundary Air Pollution, phase is to assess the issues in such a way nitrogen. which celebrates its 25th anniversary this that international cooperation to solve the year. The history of the convention can problems becomes more likely. References cited be traced back to the 1960s, when sci- The Nanjing declaration should entists demonstrated that sulfur emis- affirm the need for an international Cowling EB, Galloway JN, Furiness CS, Erisman sions in Europe were contributing to the protocol to reduce reactive nitrogen to JW. 2002. Optimizing Nitrogen Management acidification of Scandinavian lakes. The sustainable levels in agricultural sys- in Food and Energy Production and Environ- 1972 United Nations Conference on the tems, estuaries, and ecosystems. This mental Protection: Report from the Second Human Environment, held in Stock- might be achieved by improving uti- International Nitrogen Conference. Washing- holm, Sweden, signaled the start of in- lization of nitrogen in food production, ton (DC): Ecological Society of America. ternational cooperation to combat by limiting energy consumption, or by Erisman JW, et al. 1998. Nitrogen, the Confer-N-s, acidification, and over the next five years spurring changes in the fuels used as First International Nitrogen Conference several studies confirmed that air pollu- energy carriers. The declaration should 1998: Summary statement. Environmental tants could travel thousands of kilo- also Pollution 102: 3–12. meters before deposition and damage • Establish a regional center for Asia Galloway JN, Aber JD, Erisman JW, Seitzinger SP, occurred. This implied that international within INI under the auspices of the Howarth RW, Cowling EB, Cosby BJ. 2003. cooperation to limit emissions was United Nations. This part of the world The nitrogen cascade. BioScience 53: 341– needed, and 34 countries had signed the is developing rapidly, and reactive nitrogen is already an important issue. 356. convention by 1979. It has now been It will become even more important as Smil V. 2001. Enriching the Earth: Fritz Haber, ratified by 49 countries, and over the both population and per capita use of Carl Bosch, and the Transformation of Food years it has served as a stabilizing factor food and energy increase. Production. Cambridge (MA): MIT Press. and as a bridge between different polit- • Provide assessments of global and ical systems during a period of great regional problems with reactive Jan Willem Erisman (e-mail: [email protected]) is change. This product of intergovern- nitrogen. the manager of the Clean Fossil Fuels department mental cooperation has led to reduc- • Establish a framework for interna- of the Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands, tions of 60 percent in emissions of sulfur tional agreements on the manage- PO Box 1, 1755 ZG Petten, The Netherlands. ment of reactive nitrogen that can be dioxide and of 25 percent in emissions of His research explores interactions between the followed up on later. atmosphere and the biosphere, especially with nitrogen oxides. More important, there regard to air quality, atmospheric deposition, are indications that terrestrial and An international body that would sup- acidification, eutrophication, nitrogen aquatic ecosystems have started to re- port the future execution of a formal cycling, and climate change. April 2004 / Vol. 54 No. 4 • BioScience 287.
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