Nutrient Reduction Practices

LWE Factsheets on NR good practices

 

EU database of best practices

The following is a database of nutrient reduction best practices developed by the Directorate General for Environment of the EU, which outlines the scalability, effectiveness and adaptability of each measure.

EU database of best practices

Excel format, 30 KB

Project Highlights, Best Practices and Policy Summary

 

Code of Agricultural Practices for the Danube River Enterprise Pollution Reduction project

Code of Agricultural Practices for the Danube River Enterprise Pollution Reduction project

Global Nutrient Management Partnership report

The following is the report from the first meeting of the UNEP Global Programme of Action Global Nutrient Management Partnership:

UNDP-GEF Danube Regional Project (DRP) NGO Grants

 

GWP Toolbox

The ToolBox is a free and open database with a library of case studies and references that can be used by anyone who is interested in implementing better approaches for the management of water or learning more about improving water management on a local, national, regional or global level.

Conservation Agriculture

Problems of soil erosion and land degradation frequently occur where countries are attempting to adopt strategies to intensify crop production (such as introduction of double cropping). These problems have been addressed through Conservation Agriculture approaches by FAO project work in Tanzania, Kenya, Uzbekistan and DPR Korea. In these cases, the key principle of Conservation Agriculture is the maintenance of organic cover to protect the underlying soil.

The Fertiliser Institute

The concept of implementing BMPs began almost 20 years ago with research and testing by the Potash and Phosphate Institute (PPI) which has recently been integrated with the Potash and Phosphate Institute of Canada to form the International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI), with the objective being to develop techniques and methods that provide adequate nutrition for crops, while minimizing nutrient losses and their impact on the environment. More recently, promoting the use of the right fertilizer product at the right rate, right time and right place, which is commonly referred to by the fertilizer industry as the 4 Rs paradigm, has become the cornerstone for communicating about BMPs with farmer customers in the United States and abroad.

European Fertilizer Manufacturers Association agricultural practices

Publications of the European Fertilizer Manufacturers Association include a code of good agricultural practices for nitrogen.

Chesapeake Bay Program

The Mid-Atlantic Water Program (MAWP) housed at the University of Maryland (UMD) led a project during 2006-2008 to review and refine definition and effectiveness estimates for BMPs implemented and reported by the Chesapeake Bay watershed jurisdictions prior to 2003. The objective of this project was to develop definitions and effectiveness estimates that reflect the average operational condition representative of the entire watershed. The Chesapeake Bay Program’s Water Quality Steering Committee approved the Year One effectiveness estimates in August/September 2007 and the Year Two effectiveness estimates in January 2009.

GEF/FAO Livestock Management in East Asia

The GEF/FAO Livestock Management in East Asia Project’s development objective is to reduce the major negative environmental and health impacts of rapidly increasing concentrated livestock production on the open waters of and thus on the people of south-east Asia. Its global environment objective is to reduce livestock induced, land-based pollution and environmental degradation of the South China Sea and Gulf of Thailand.

Mississippi River Basin Watershed Nutrient Task Force

From Minnesota to Louisiana, a variety of projects and programs are underway that provide direct, measurable benefit to conditions within the Gulf. The stories presented here provide a sample of successful projects that are contributing to the reduction in Gulf hypoxia.

Fertilizer Best Management Practices (BMPs)

The world has relied on increasing crop yields to supply an ever increasing demand for food. In order to increase world food production in a sustainable manner, farmers are adopting best management practices (BMPs) that incorporate the use of the right fertilizer at the right rate, right time and right place.

Mid-Atlantic Water Program (MAWP)

The Mid-Atlantic Water Program (MAWP) housed at the University of Maryland (UMD) led a project during 2006-2008 to review and refine definition and effectiveness estimates for BMPs implemented and reported by the Chesapeake Bay watershed jurisdictions prior to 2003.

Farm Pilot Project Coordination (FPPC)

Farm Pilot Project Coordination’s (FPPC) specific mandate is to oversee the implementation and administration of a Pilot Project Program to demonstrate economically viable innovative treatment technology systems that reduce the nutrient content of the waste stream from AFOs by 75 percent or greater.

Implementation of EC's nitrates Directive

The European Community has been taking measures concerned with nitrogen pollution in waters for over twenty years. Whilst the initial directives concerned themselves mainly with water for human consumption, more recent directives, such as those on nitrates from agricultural sources and urban waste water treatment have placed increased emphasis on the environmental effects of excess nitrogen, in particular eutrophication. These recent directives are currently in the process of implementation.

UNDP/GEF Danube Regional Project

Agriculture is a major source of pollution in the Danube River. Farms inadvertently release hundreds of toxic chemicals into its basin daily, posing serious threats to the environment. A listing of pesticides and fertilizers used in these countries, and an assessment of their uses, was prepared. The implementation of 15 ‘Best Agricultural Practices' (BAPs) ­- which are recognized procedures for reducing farm pollution - began in early 2006 on eight pilot farms in the Vojvodina region of northern Serbia.

Black Sea and Danube Basin Partnership

Ten World Bank projects supported by the Investment Fund for Nutrient Reduction financed by Global Environmental Facility (GEF) since 2002 have been very successful in piloting measures to reduce nutrient loads entering the Black Sea and Danube Basin. The projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Moldova, Romania, Serbia and Turkey.

NRCS best practices

Ag producers also work with the U.S. Department of Agiculture Natural Resources Conservation Service partners, locally led Conservation Districts, who strive to increase the following voluntary conservation practices among farmers, ranchers and other land users.

Hypoxia in coastal waters

The GEF Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel held an expert consultation on hypoxia in coastal waters, the long term objective of which is that institutional and national bodies in GEF transboundary action programs will be able to identify the presence and diagnose causes of hypoxia and to promote policies to prevent and reduce hypoxic zone formation by reducing stressors within their control. Please note the presentation on the Black Sea story.

Organization to Minimize Phosphorus Losses from Agriculture

 

FAO - Best Practices | Food and agriculture policy

 

The Fertilizer Institute: Issues

 

MONERIS - MOdelling Nutrient Emissions in RIver Systems

 

GEF EO Country Portfolio Evaluations - Moldova

 

The European Commission - Research Directorate-General

 

UNDP-GEF Black Sea Ecosystem Recovery Project

 

Guidance for Federal Land Management in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

The following guidance makes a variety if suggestions including no phosphorus rules for crop lands and reducing runoff from septic systems and new development. USEPA is accepting public comments andf final federal strategy will be released May 12, 2010.

Best practices of Fertilizers Reduction from Agricultural Lands in Upper Tisza basin, Ukraine

 

Guangdong-Pearl River Delta urban Environment

 

Tunisia North Tunis Wastewater Project

 

Huai River Basin Marine Pollution Reduction

 

Shanghai Agricultural ad Non-Point Pollution Reduction

 

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Liaoning Medium Cities Infrastructure

 

Coastal Cities Environment and Sanitation Project

 

Shandong Second Environment Project

 

Ningbo Water and Environment Project

 

Partnership Investment Fund for Pollution Reduction in the LMEs of East Asia

 

Partnership Investment Fund for Pollution Reduction in the LMEs of East Asia

 

ICPDR-DABLAS database

 

Baltic Deepwater Oxygenation

 

Mitigation measures to reduce Phosphorus leakage from arable land, ditch dams and ditch filters

 

Intensive Pig Production Program

 

Understanding the importance of coastal zone for restoration efforts in the Baltic Sea

 

Simulations of some engineering methods proposed to improve oxygen conditions in the Baltic proper

 

Mid-Atlantic Nutrient Management Handbook

The Mid-Atlantic Nutrient Management Handbook was written as a reference text for nutrient management training programs offered by state regulatory agencies. The Handbook was based off an earlier nutrient management training manual that was widely used in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, but revised to incorporate advances in soil, crop, and nutrient management research and the techniques used to protect surface and groundwater.

The challenges ahead in managing agricultural landscapes for environmental quality

The paper argues that a “landscape approach” is necessary to address agricultural nonpoint source pollution problems. It reviews the development of “landscape thinking” in agriculture and how this has been incorporated into the USDA Conservation Effects Assessment Program (CEAP). We present some successes in landscape approaches to agricultural systems and then discuss the key biophysical, human dimensions and institutional/policy challenges facing this effort. with an adaptive landscape approach to managing agricultural landscapes.

U.S. Department of Agriculture Water Quality Information Center best practices

 

Natural Resources Conservation Service document on nutrient trading

"Nutrient Credit Trading – a Market-based Approach for Improving Water Quality" by Harbans Lal, Environmental Engineer, WNTSC / NRCS / USDA, Portland, Oregon

International Nitrogen Initiative - Visualization on the Nitrogen Cycle

Visualization on the nitrogen cycle and a dashboard showing various scenarios for impacting it. The aim of the animation is to provide an integral overview of the sources and effects of reactive nitrogen compounds and the relationships between them. The animation also demonstrates the development of these sources and relationships with time.

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IPNI Fertilizer BMP Informations

 

LWE factsheets on NR practices (Russian)

 

World Bank: Environment Matters

Annual Review of Europe and Central Asia Region

Assessment of the Effects of Conservation Practices on Cultivated Cropland in the Upper Mississippi River Basin

 

Oklahoma State University: Waste Management

Compiled a series of videos on manure management practices.

Sample folder

A short summary of the content

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LWE Factsheets on NR good practices

 

LWE factsheets on NR practices (Russian)

 

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