Abstract
Nitrogen (N) management presents a sustainability dilemma: N is strongly linked to energy and food production, but excess reactive N causes environmental pollution. The N footprint is an indicator that quantifies reactive N losses to the environment from consumption and production of food and the use of energy. The average per capita N footprint (calculated using the N-Calculator methodology) of ten countries varies from 15 to 47 kg N capita−1 year−1. The major cause of the difference is the protein consumption rates and food production N losses. The food sector dominates all countries’ N footprints. Global connections via trade significantly affect the N footprint in countries that rely on imported foods and feeds. The authors present N footprint reduction strategies (e.g., improve N use efficiency, increase N recycling, reduce food waste, shift dietary choices) and identify knowledge gaps (e.g., the N footprint from nonfood goods and soil N process).
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Acknowledgments
We would like to thank all participants of the International Nitrogen Footprint Workshop held in Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan in March 16-18th, 2015 for helping to develop this manuscript. We also would like to thank the funding support for the workshop from The KAITEKI Institute Inc., Japan; Green Network of Excellence - Environmental information (funded by Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan); National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences, Japan; National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan; Ministry of Education, Taiwan; National Dong Hwa University, Taiwan; Advanced Research and Education Center for Steel (ARECS), Tohoku University, Japan. This research was also partly supported by Science and technology research promotion program for agriculture, forestry, fisheries and food industry; Environment Research and Technology Development Fund (S-15) of the Ministry of the Environment, Japan. This is a contribution to the N-PRINT project (www.n-print.org), the www.dNmark.org research alliance, and to the International Nitrogen Initiative (www.initrogen.org).
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Shibata, H., Galloway, J.N., Leach, A.M. et al. Nitrogen footprints: Regional realities and options to reduce nitrogen loss to the environment. Ambio 46, 129–142 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-016-0815-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-016-0815-4