🔎 What’s going on?
Defra and Natural England announce an innovative nitrate scheme that aims to reduce nitrate pollution and re-start house building in the Solent area of England. The scheme was launched in Solent where new housing developments has been put on hold for over a year.
🌿 Cool, what does it mean?
The £3.9m pilot scheme has two parts: an online ‘nitrate trading’ auction platform and a new nature reserve (at Warblington Farm) covering 60 hectares of new woodlands and wetlands will be created. The nitrate trading platform pilot will be rolled out over the next two years and delivered jointly with the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Natural England, and the Environment Agency.
A nature-based solution to nitrogen pollution is a very welcome proposal. Through the new nitrate trading platform, housing developers will buy credits to create new habitats to prevent nitrates from reaching the new housing and the Solent’s existing wildlife habitats. It’s not a perfect solution but it’s certainly a step in the right direction.
❓ Why should I care?
In the UK, the two main sources of Nitrogen pollution is agriculture (about 70%) and sewage (the remaining 30%). So what is nitrogen pollution and why has it prevented new housing developments in the Solent area? Nitrogen is one of the key nutrients required for plant growth. Even though Nitrogen makes up 72% of the air we breathe, it cannot be used by plants as it is. Instead, they get it from fertilisers such as ammonia. However, almost 50% of the nitrogen applied to agricultural land is lost to the environment through water run-off from fields, animal waste and emissions from soil microbial activity. All of these runoffs or nitrogen pollution causes extensive damage to wildlife habitats, resulting in excess algae blooms (through a process called eutrophication). Building new housing will release additional nitrogen by disturbing the soil when the Solent area is already suffering from heavy nitrogen pollution.
In Europe alone, the environmental and human health costs of nitrogen pollution are estimated to be €70-320 billion per year. 👀
🚦 Where do we need to be?
Nitrogen management should become an absolute priority for climate change mitigation. Barely mentioned in the press but Nitrogen pollution also contributes to climate change. When nitrogen soaks with soil or water, it creates Nitrous oxide. Nitrous oxide is 300 times more harmful than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas! And it’s barely measured by organisations nor talked about as much as carbon emissions.
👤 What can I do about it?
Each and every one of us has a Nitrogen footprint, through our personal actions. So start by measuring your personal Nitrogen footprint here using the N-calculator.
Agriculture farms can do the following:
- Adopt organic farming where possible
- Grow cover crops so there is less runoff
- Move from an intensively farmed land to a less intensively managed grassland or woodland
- Have a nutrient plan in place and measure the nitrogen content of manures, composts and slurries.
Related: Pivot Bio raises $100million to disrupt nitrogen market