COLOMBO (News 1st); At the fifth United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA5) in Nairobi this week, UN Member States from around the world have agreed to accelerate efforts to tackle the global nitrogen challenge by 2030 and beyond.

The ‘Resolution on Sustainable Nitrogen Management’ has been proposed by Sri Lanka and was co-sponsored by Brazil, Maldives, Pakistan and Uganda, championing the cause for sustainable nitrogen use on Planet Earth.

The resolution was adopted by UN Member States today, Wednesday 2nd March, said the Department of Government Information, adding that the new resolution is innovative in bringing views together.

“Instead of focusing on reducing nitrogen use, the resolution looks to reduce the amount of nitrogen resources that is wasted. Reducing nitrogen waste means that limited nitrogen resources can go further to better contribute to food supply. At the same time, the resolution points to opportunities for recovering nitrogen resources,” said a statement.

The resolution itself emerges from thinking developed in the Colombo Declaration, adopted by its signatories on United Nations Day, 24 October 2019.

The draft Resolution on Sustainable Nitrogen Management proposed by Sri Lanka sought to follow the Colombo Declaration with ambition to halve nitrogen waste by 2030, and move towards establishment of an inter-governmental coordination mechanism on nitrogen policies.

The UNEA resolution takes the next steps toward these goals, agreeing to: “Encourage member states to accelerate actions to significantly reduce nitrogen waste globally by 2030 and beyond through the improvement of sustainable nitrogen management.”

The urgency for reducing nitrogen waste by 2030 reflects this as the decade for action towards the UN Sustainable Development goals. This is the first time that this urgency to reduce nitrogen waste has been enshrined in a global intergovernmental agreement.

The resolution requests the UNEP Executive Director to “identify possible modalities for the options being considered for improved coordination of policies across the global nitrogen cycle at the national, regional and global levels, including among other options, for an intergovernmental coordination mechanism on nitrogen policies.”

The aim is to better support Member States, with a more ‘joined-up’ approach to nitrogen than has been available in the past.

The draft resolution was prepared by the Ministry of Environment of Sri Lanka, with the support of the International Nitrogen Management System (INMS).

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