Nutrient flows in international trade

Ecology and policy issues

authored by: Ulrike Grote, Eric Craswell, Paul Vlek
Abstract: Impacts of increasing population pressure on food demand and land resources has sparked interest in nutrient balances and flows at a range of scales. West Asia/North Africa, China, and sub-Saharan Africa are net importers of NPK in agricultural commodities. These imported nutrients do not, however, redress the widely recognized declines in fertility in sub-Saharan African soils, because the nutrients imported are commonly concentrated in the cities, creating waste disposal problems rather than alleviating deficiencies in rural soils. Countries with a net loss of NPK in agricultural commodities are the major food exporting countries-the United States, Australia, and some Latin American countries. In the case of the United States, exports of NPK will increase from 3.1 Tg in 1997 to 4.8 Tg in 2020. The results suggest that between 1997 and 2020, total international net flows of NPK in traded agricultural commodities will double to 8.8 million tonnes. Against this background, the paper analyses the impact of different policy measures on nutrient flows and balances. This includes not only the effects of agricultural trade liberalization and the reduction of subsidies, but also the more direct environmental policies like nutrient accounting schemes, eco-labeling, and nutrient trading. It finally stresses the need for environmental costs to be factored into the debate on nutrient management and advocates more inter-disciplinary research on these important problems.
External Organisation(s): University of Bonn
Type: Article
Journal: Environmental Science and Policy
Volume: 8
Pages: 439-451
No. of pages: 13
ISSN: 1462-9011
Publication date: 10.2005
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Geography, Planning and Development, Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities, SDG 13 - Climate Action
Electronic version(s): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2005.05.001 (Access: Closed)