26th Session of UNEP
Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment
Forum 21-24 February
Nairobi, 17 February
2011 Massive amounts of phosphorus—a valuable
fertilizer needed to feed a growing global
population—are being lost to the oceans
as result of inefficiencies in farming and
a failure to recycle wastewater.
Phosphorus pollution,
along with other uncontrolled discharges,
such as nitrogen and sewage, are linked
with a rise in algal blooms which in turn
harm water quality, poison fish stocks and
undermine coastal tourism.
In the United States
alone, the costs are estimated to be running
at over US$2 billion a year, indicating
that globally and annually the damage may
run into the tens of billion of dollars.
At the same time there
is also growing concern over the impact
of billions of pieces of plastic, both large
and small, on the health of the global marine
environment.
New research suggests
that the plastic broken down in the oceans
into small fragments —alongside pellets
discharged by industry—may absorb a range
of toxic chemicals linked to cancer and
impacts the reproductive processes of humans
and wildlife.
Experts say both phosphorus
discharges and new concerns over plastics
underline the need for better management
of the world's wastes and improved patterns
of consumption and production.
The two issues are spotlighted
as among key issues —deemed persistent,
re-emerging or newly emerging— in the United
Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) Year
Book 2011 which is being presented today
in advance of the annual gathering of the
world's environment ministers opening on
21 February.
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary
General and UNEP Executive Director, said:
"Science is central for assisting governments
to prioritize action on persistent and emerging
challenges—indeed emerging issues will be
a key theme over the next 15 months as ministers
prepare for the crucial Rio+20 conference
in Brazil next year."
"The phosphorus
and marine plastics stories bring into sharp
focus the urgent need to bridge scientific
gaps but also to catalyze a global transition
to a resource-efficient Green Economy in
order to realize sustainable development
and address poverty," he added.
'Starting here¬-at
UNEP's Governing Council/Global Ministerial
Environment Forum—we will begin global and
regional consultations on a short-list of
key scientific challenges that need to be
addressed in order to aid that transition
and assist governments at Rio+20,"
said Mr. Steiner.
"The focus will
also be on the solutions and opportunities.
Whether it is phosphorus, plastics or any
one of the myriad of challenges facing the
modern world, there are clearly inordinate
opportunities to generate new kinds of employment
and new kinds of more efficient industries,"
he added.
"Ones that bring
more intelligent management, a recycling
imperative to transforming waste and its
environmental and health impacts from a
serious problem into a valuable resource
and keep humanity's footprint within planetary
boundaries," he added.
Phosphorus—the Waste
of a Precious Agricultural Resource
The UNEP Year Book 2011
has highlighted phosphorus, demand for which
has rocketed during the 20th century, in
part because of the heated debate over whether
or not finite reserves of phosphate rock
will soon run out.
An estimated 35 countries
produce phosphate rock with the top ten
countries having the highest reserves being
Algeria, China, Israel, Jordan, Russia,
South Africa, Syria and the United States.
New phosphate mines
have been commissioned in countries such
as Australia, Peru and Saudi Arabia and
countries and companies are looking further
afield, including on the seabed off the
coast of Namibia.
Some researchers are
suggesting that the consumption of phosphorus
globally is in the medium to long term unsustainable
and that peak production, with a decline
afterwards, could occur in the 21st century.
Others disagree. The
International Fertilizer Development Centre
recently revised upwards estimates of reserves
from around 16 billion tonnes to 60 billion
tonnes—at current production rates, these
could last 300 to 400 years. The United
States Geological Survey also recently adjusted
their estimates to 65 billion tonnes. Nevertheless,
proponents of the peak phosphorus theory
argue that even if the timeline may vary,
the fundamental issue, that the supply of
cheap and easily accessible phosphorus is
ultimately limited, will not change.
The Year Book calls
for a global phosphorus assessment to more
precisely map phosphorus flows in the environment
and predict levels of economically viable
reserves.
According to the Year
Book, the global use of fertilizers that
contain phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium
increased by 600 per cent between 1950 and
2000.
It adds that population
growth in developing countries and increased
levels of dairy and meat in the global diet
are likely to increase fertilizer use further.
"While there are
commercially exploitable amounts of phosphate
rock in several countries, those with no
domestic reserves could be particularly
vulnerable in the case of global shortfalls,"
the Year Book notes.
Further research is
also needed on the way phosphorus travels
through the environment in order to maximize
its use in agriculture and livestock production
and cut wastage while reducing environmental
impacts including on rivers and oceans.
• Currently humans consume—via
food—around only a fifth of the phosphorus
mined with the rest retained in soils or
released to the aquatic environment.
• Over the last 50 years
concentrations of phosphorus in freshwaters
and land has grown by at least 75 per cent.
• The estimated flow
of phosphorus to the marine environment
from the land is now running at around 22
million tonnes a year.
The Year Book points
to the enormous opportunity of recycling
wastewater: in the mega-cities of the developing
world up to 70 per cent of this water—laden
with nutrients and fertilizers such as phosphorus—is
discharged untreated into rivers and coastal
areas.
• Sweden, for example,
aims to recycle 60 per cent of the phosphorus
in municipal wastewater by 2015.
Other measures to reduce
discharges include cutting erosion and the
loss of topsoil where large quantities of
phosphorus are associated with soil particles
and excess fertilizers are stored after
application.
• In Africa soil losses
are running at close to 0.50 tonnes per
hectare a year and in Asia it is even higher,
at almost 1.70 tonnes per hectare per year.
Land management measures
include contour ploughing; contour planting
of hedgerows on steep slopes and applying
mulches and planting cover crops and other
vegetation on land.
Boosting recycling rates
at phosphate rock mines can also assist
in conserving stocks and reducing discharges
to local water systems.
Marine Plastics—A New Toxic Time Bomb?
The second emerging
issue highlighted in the Year Book 2011
is a need for more intensified research
on the impact of plastics entering the oceans.
Scientists are becoming
concerned not only about the direct damage
to wildlife, but the potential toxicity
of some kinds of materials called microplastics.
These are tiny pieces
smaller than five millimeters in length
discharged as pellets by industry or formed
as a result of bigger pieces of plastic
broken down by, for example, wave action
and sunlight.
The exact quantities
of plastics, including microplastics entering
or forming in the oceans from the land-based
discharge—but also from shipping and fishing
boats— is unknown.
What is known is that
per capita consumption of plastics, from
packaging to plastic bags and from industry
to consumer goods, has been rising sharply.
• In North America and
Western Europe each person now uses around
100kg of plastic materials annually—this
is likely to increase to 140kg by 2015.
• People in rapidly
developing countries in Asia each use around
20kg of plastic per year—this is set to
grow to about 36kg by 2015.
Currently recycling
and re-use rates vary enormously even among
developed countries.
In Europe recycling
rates of plastics for energy generation
ranged from 25 per cent or less in several
European countries to over 80 per cent in
Norway and Switzerland.
Previous concerns about
plastics included damage and death of wildlife
after becoming entangled.
There is also concern
about wildlife eating plastics often in
mistake for food. Albatrosses, for example,
may mistake red plastic for squid, similarly
turtles confuse plastic bags for jellyfish.
Young sea birds of some species may suffer
poor nutrition if they feed on too much
plastic, mistaken as food.
But the Year Book flags
a new and emerging concern termed "persistent,
bio-accumulating and toxic substances"
associated with plastic marine waste.
Research indicates that
the small and tiny pieces of plastic are
adsorbing and concentrating from the seawater
and sediments a wide range of chemicals
from polychlorinated biphenols (PCBs) to
the pesticide DDT.
"Many of these
pollutants including PCBs cause chronic
effects such as endocrine disruption, mutagenicity
and carcinogenicity," reports the Year
Book.
"Some scientists
are concerned that these persistent contaminants
could eventually end up in the food chain,
although there is great uncertainty about
the degree to which this poses a threat
to human health and ecosystem health,"
it adds.
Species such as swordfish
and seals—which are at the top of the food
chain—are cited as potentially vulnerable.
These are also species consumed by humans.
A recent survey of PCB
concentrations in pellets washed ashore
has been carried out at 56 beaches in nearly
30 countries.
• The highest concentrations
were found in plastic pellets in the United
States, Western Europe and Japan—the lowest
in tropical Asia and southern Africa
The Year Book chronicles
a range of existing and new initiatives,
guidelines and laws aimed at reducing plastic
and other waste discharges.
These range from the
UN's International Convention for the Prevention
of Pollution from Ships to UNEP's Global
Programme of Action for the Protection of
the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities.
The Year Book calls
for better enforcement of such rules, better
consumer awareness and behavioral changes
and improved support for national and community-based
initiatives.
There is also an urgent
need for improved and more innovative monitoring
of plastic throughout the marine environment
given that real gaps remain in understanding
the ultimate fate of these materials.
There is evidence that
some plastics are not floating but sinking
and piling up on the seabed.
"Plastic debris
has been observed on the ocean floor from
the depths of the Fram Strait in the North
Atlantic to deepwater canyons off the Mediterranean
coast—much of the plastic that has entered
the North Sea is thought to reside on the
seabed," says the Year Book.
It also calls for phasing
in changes in the collection, recycling
and re-use of plastics. "If plastic
is treated as a valuable resource, rather
than just a waste product, any opportunities
to create a secondary value for the material
will provide economic incentives for collection
and reprocessing," the Year Book points
out.
Notes
to Editors
The UNEP Year Book 2011 is available at
www.unep.org/yearbook/2011
It can be purchased through Earthprint www.earthprint.com
