Global Nitrogen in Sustainable Development: Four Challenges at the Interface of Science and Policy

Abstract

The increasing use of anthropogenic reactive nitrogen (Nr) derived from the industrialization of the Haber-Bosch process has been critical in feeding the increasing world population since the 1960s. However, the abundance of Nr has also impacted humans and ecosystems, altering the natural nitrogen cycle in unprecedented ways (Boyer and Howarth 2002; Galloway and Dowling 2002; Jenkinson 2001; Fowler et al. 2013; Vitousek et al. 1997; Erisman et al. 2013b). Accordingly, a major challenge for scientists and policymakers is how to exploit the benefits of nitrogen, e.g., meeting food production demands, while limiting its negative impacts. Although it has received limited public attention, scientists and international organizations consider the global nitrogen challenge one of the most critical environmental issues of the twenty-first century, and a central element for the achievement of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs set in 2015 by the United Nations General Assembly represent one of the last chapters integrating the principles of sustainable development since the publication of the Brundtland Report in 1987. The SDGs form the most inclusive – and ambitious – agenda the UN has delivered to date. Seventeen goals encompassing 169 individual targets offer a leading international coordinating framework to address interconnected challenges regarding poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace, and justice. Although critiques have arisen on the scope and the lack of specificity of the targets (Stafford-Smith 2014), the SDGs represent a fundamental chapter in the history of sustainable development and a potential turning point for the place of nitrogen in the international policy arena. This chapter examines four of the challenges associated to the global nitrogen problem across scientific communities and policy circles, which are interrelated: (1) Meeting global food demand while reducing nitrogen pollution; (2) Quantifying the nitrogen cascade: linking nitrogen forms, expert communities, and policy frameworks; (3) Externalities: assessing costs, benefits, and solutions; and (4) Institutional frameworks: designing effective knowledge governance systems. The chapter ends with the analysis of the role of the nitrogen challenge in sustainable development policy and future directions for the achievement of the SDGs.