Environmentalists have launched a global movement to encourage nitrogen management in view of the fact that reactive nitrogen can considerably improve but equally damage the quality of life on the planet. Through their call Nanjing Declaration on Nitrogen Management, 400 green experts have urged policy makers at all levels of governments across the world to act in this regard. They presented the declaration to the un recently. It calls for optimising nitrogen management in food and energy production and minimising its environmental impact.

Reactive nitrogen is the main constituent in fertilisers and helps sustain people all over the world. But it also triggers various health problems in human beings, damages the stratospheric ozone layer and destroys ecosystems. James Galloway, chairman of the International Nitrogen Initiative, a global effort, points out that while many areas show adverse environmental impacts of nitrogen leakages, many others lack enough nitrogen for food production.

The declaration will also be sent to Klaus T