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Phosphorus is an essential nutrient for fertiliser and livestock feed, and hence food security. However inefficient use and lose of phosphorus leads to the pollution of rivers and lakes and the creation of coastal dead zones as it can trigger toxic algal blooms which threaten human and animal health.
In a new major international report led by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and the University of Edinburgh, scientists are calling for urgent government action to avert a global phosphorus crisis. The 400-page Our Phosphorus Future report is written by 40 experts from 17 countries.
Journalists dialled in to this briefing to hear five of the authors discuss the report with a focus on the UK implications.
Speakers will include:
Prof Bryan Spears, Limnologist, UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
Dr Will Brownlie, Post Doctoral Research Associate – Nutrients and Policy, UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology & University of Edinburgh
Prof Kate Heal, Personal Chair of Catchment Biogeochemistry, University of Edinburgh
Dr Dana Cordell, Research Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney
Prof Mark Sutton, Environmental Physicist, UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology