Impact of lifestyle, human diet, and nutrient use efficiency in food production on eutrophication of global aquifers and surface waters
A spatially explicit analysis is presented of the impact of human lifestyle, diet, and nutrient use efficiency in food production and wastewater treatment on exceedance of threshold concentrations for…
Impact of groundwater nitrogen legacy on water quality
The loss of agricultural nitrogen (N) is a leading cause of global eutrophication and freshwater and coastal hypoxia. Despite regulatory efforts such as the European Union’s Nitrogen Directive, high…
Trends and geographic variation in adverse impacts of nitrogen use in Europe on human health, climate, and ecosystems: A review
This study assesses the effects of reactive nitrogen (N) pollution on human health, climate, and ecosystems in Europe from 1990 to 2019. It reports temporal and spatial variation in nitrogen-related…
Global regionalised characterisation factors for phosphorus and nitrogen impacts on freshwater fish biodiversity
Inefficient global nutrient (i.e., phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N)) management leads to an increase in nutrient delivery to freshwater and coastal ecosystems and induces eutrophication in these…
Costs and benefits of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser for global production of cereal grains in 2015 and in 2050 under contrasting scenarios
Increased use of synthetic N fertiliser has boosted global cereal grain production, but has also led to a massive increase of reactive N loss and environmental impacts. This paper quantifies the…
Sanitation and wastewater treatment scenarios and effects on global water quality and SDG 6
Sanitation and wastewater treatment are key elements for global human health and aquatic biodiversity. Scenarios showed an improvement of sanitation over time, but unimproved sanitation will not…
In the new report “Appetite for Change”, scientists provide a recipe to halve nitrogen pollution from food production in Europe. This pollution is caused by poor use of nitrogen, particularly in…
Surface-Water Nitrate Exposure to World Populations Has Expanded and Intensified during 1970−2010
Excessive nitrate in surface waters deteriorates the water quality and threatens human health. Human activities have caused increased nitrate concentrations in global surface waters over the past 50…
Spatial and temporal patterns of nutrients and their environmental impacts from the agriculture sector in India
Since the launch of the Green Revolution (GR) in Indian agriculture in the 1960s, Indian food production has successfully become self-sufficient. This has also led to increasing soil nitrogen (N)…
Water quality footprint of agricultural emissions of nitrogen, phosphorus, and glyphosate associated with German bioeconomy
Fertiliser and pesticide application can cause extensive environmental damage. This study uses the water quality footprint to express nitrogen, phosphorus, and glyphosate emissions from agriculture in…
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