Scientific update
Nitrogen management offers potential for win-win solutions
Increasing use of nitrogen is providing food to the growing world population; at the same time, nitrogen emissions contributed to threats to biodiversity, air and water quality, and climate change.
MAG contributed to papers that highlight how the global nitrogen cycle could change in the 21st century [1] and the extent to which this is reflected in the current set of global emission scenarios [2].
Beyond stock-taking of the current understanding on business-as-usual projections, MAG explored the potential of specific options for mitigation, their immediate costs and benefits, and how they could contribute to other development objectives [3].
References
[1] Fowler D, Coyle M, Skiba U, Sutton MA, Cape JN, Amann M (et al.) (2013). The global nitrogen cycle in the twenty-first century. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 368(1621):20130164 (5 July 2013) (Published online 27 May 2013).
[2] Winiwarter W, Erisman JW, Galloway JN, Klimont Z, Sutton MA (2013) Estimating environmentally relevant fixed nitrogen demand in the 21st century. Climatic Change, 120(4):889-901 (October 2013) (Published online 25 July 2013).
[3] Sutton MA, Skiba UM, van Grinsven HJM, Oenema O, Watson CJ, Williams J, Hellums DT, Maas R, Gyldenkaerne S, Pathak H, Winiwarter W (2013). Green economy thinking and the control of nitrous oxide emissions. Environmental Development, published online 30 October 2013.
Research program
Feature article