Nitrogen Pollution in China Increased 60% Annually Between 1980 and 2010
From Environmental News
Nitrogen deposited on land and water in China increased 60 percent annually from the 1980s to the 2000s due to rising use of fertilizer, growth in livestock production, increased coal burning, and a sharp rise in car ownership, reports a study published last week in the journal Nature.
The findings, which come as Beijing battles choking air pollution, are based on analysis of data from nitrogen deposition from monitoring sites throughout China. Overall, average annual bulk deposition of nitrogen increased from 13.2 kilograms of nitrogen per hectare in the 1980s to 21.1 kg in the 2000s.
According to the paper, the increase in nitrogen deposition is linked to a number of environmental problems, including air and water pollution, soil and water acidification, increased greenhouse gas emissions, and biodiversity losses. The rate of nitrogen deposition in parts of China is now higher than ever observed at a regional scale in the United States.
