IMPROVING NITROGEN SAFETY IN CHINA: NITROGEN FLOWS, POLLUTION AND CONTROL

Highlights

● It is necessary to address the N flows and their impacts on environment in China for sustainable N management.

● Barriers include better understanding of N cycle mechanisms and improving low cost abatement technologies are needed to overcome.

● Integrated measures and policies are crucial for the abatement of adverse impacts of N.

Abstract

The impacts of nitrogen on environmental quality, greenhouse gas balances, ecosystem and biodiversity in China are of great concern given the magnitude of demand for food and energy. Comprehensive summaries of historic N flows and their critical threats and sustainable management are urgently needed. This paper initially reviews the historical trends of N flows in China and identifies the critical threats of N loss. Subsequently, it describes some recent success stories of N management, and finally indicates barriers to N pollution control. This review highlights three key points. Firstly, a steady increase of N input in China has led to a series of environmental problems via leaching and runoff, ammonia emissions and denitrification. Secondly, although great efforts to improve N management and N safety in China, further quantifications of N flows and analysis of their underlying mechanisms are needed to improve the understanding of the N cycle and pollution control. Finally, it proposes that the best available technologies combined with regulatory plans, laws, projects and policies should be implemented to overcome current barriers in N control and achieve a balance between the sustainable use of N resources and environmental conservation in China.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

barriers / future management / ammonia emissions / nitrogen input / water N pollution

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42061124001, 41961124004, and 42177313).

Compliance with ethics guidelines

Chaopu Ti, Xiaoyuan Yan, Longlong Xia, and Jingwen Huang declare that they have no conflicts of interest or financial conflicts to disclose. This article does not contain any study with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

The Author(s) 2022. Published by Higher Education Press. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)