National Institute for Space Research (INPE), São José dos Campos, SP, 12227-010, Brazil.
Technological Institute of Aeronautics (ITA), São José dos Campos, SP, 12228-900, Brazil.
J Environ Manage. 2022 Aug 15;316:115330. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.115330. Epub 2022 May 21.
Nitrogen pollution is one of Brazil's most threatening and challenging environmental problems, caused mainly by productive activities aimed at meeting the demand of food, energy, and housing by a fast-growing population. Sustainable nitrogen management involves optimizing the beneficial effects of reactive nitrogen (N) use and, at the same time, mitigating the negative impacts of its excess on the environment and human health. Here we conduct an assessment of nitrogen sustainability in Brazil from 2000 to 2018 applying the Entropy Weight Method (EWM) to a set of nitrogen-related indicators within four subsystems: environmental, economic, social, and institutional. Our research objectives are to determine an overall Nitrogen Sustainability Index and discuss the relevance of indicators linked to the main anthropogenic sources of nitrogen pollution. By our analysis, the following indicators play a key role in determining nitrogen sustainability levels in the country: political stability, fertilizer consumption, population growth, and investments in water and sanitation. Our findings suggest that political and institutional concerns are greatly impacting sustainable actions towards nitrogen management, leading Brazil to reach only a weak-to-basic level of sustainability in the studied period. We highlight that neglecting the problems caused by the unsustainable nitrogen management can increase environmental, economic, and social issues, and jeopardize the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In addition to fostering of sustainability goals on the agriculture and energy sectors from the environmental, socioeconomic, and political perspectives, the importance of this assessment lies in supporting governments, policymakers, and civil society to develop sustainable nitrogen roadmaps to significantly reduce nitrogen waste by 2030, as outlined in the 2019 Colombo Declaration on Sustainable Nitrogen Management backed by the UN Environment Programme.
氮污染是巴西最具威胁性和挑战性的环境问题之一，主要是由满足快速增长人口的粮食、能源和住房需求的生产活动造成的。可持续的氮管理涉及优化活性氮（N）使用的有益效果，同时减轻其过量对环境和人类健康的负面影响。在这里，我们应用熵权法（EWM），对 2000 年至 2018 年巴西的氮可持续性进行了评估，其中涉及四个子系统（环境、经济、社会和制度）中的一组与氮有关的指标。我们的研究目的是确定一个总体氮可持续性指数，并讨论与主要人为氮污染源相关的指标的相关性。通过我们的分析，以下指标在确定该国氮可持续性水平方面起着关键作用：政治稳定性、肥料消费、人口增长以及水和卫生方面的投资。我们的研究结果表明，政治和制度问题对氮管理的可持续行动有重大影响，导致巴西在研究期间仅达到弱到基本的可持续性水平。我们强调，忽视不可持续的氮管理所带来的问题可能会增加环境、经济和社会问题，并危及可持续发展目标（SDGs）的实现。除了从环境、社会经济和政治角度促进农业和能源部门的可持续性目标之外，这项评估的重要性在于支持政府、政策制定者和民间社会制定可持续的氮路线图，以在 2030 年前显著减少氮浪费，正如 2019 年联合国环境规划署支持的《科伦坡可持续氮管理宣言》所概述的那样。
