June 13, 2013 – MUSCLE SHOALS, Ala., USA – The Global TraPs project (Global Transdisciplinary Processes for Sustainable Phosphorus Management) is collaborating with the Global Partnership on Nutrient Management (GPNM) to hold the first Global TraPs world conference in Beijing on June 18 and the Global Conference on Nutrient Management, which will take place on June 19-20. More than 100 attendees from around the world are expected to take part in the conferences.
June 18 will be dedicated to Global TraPs Mutual Learning and Dialogue Sessions. These sessions are based on experiences from the 4th Global TraPs Workshop that was held in El Jadida, Morocco, in March. Each session will deal with a case study or topic that relates to sustainable phosphorus management.
No living thing – plants, animals or humans – can exist without phosphorus. Phosphorus is a nutrient found in minerals and rocks in the form of phosphates. Phosphate rocks are processed into various fertilizers critical to global food security and also into many industrial and other non-agricultural products. Two widely discussed issues surrounding phosphorus are: 1) the finite nature of phosphate rock resources and their importance in future food security; and 2) the negative environmental impacts of excess phosphorus, particularly in freshwater and coastal marine ecosystems.
Since its founding in 2010, Global TraPs has been studying phosphorus use, management and sustainability from a supply chain perspective through a transdisciplinary process (science-practice) involving experts from academia, industry, governments, non-governmental organizations and other concerned parties. Dr. Amit H. Roy, IFDC president and CEO, and Dr. Roland W. Scholz, Project Group Materials Recycling and Resource Strategies, Fraunhofer IWKS, are co-leading the Global TraPs project.
Global TraPs’ goal is to build knowledge about how humans can make transitions toward more sustainable phosphorus use. In a multi-stakeholder forum, Global TraPs is defining: 1) current levels of knowledge on phosphorus and its use as well as new knowledge that is necessary to ensure sustainability; 2) new technologies needed to better process, use and reuse phosphorus; and 3) the most valuable areas for policy intervention to ensure sustainable phosphorus use in the future.
“Phosphorus is one of the key nutrients necessary to human, animal and plant life,” said Roy and Scholz in a joint statement. “Phosphorus is also a finite resource that must be used more effectively and efficiently. By focusing on phosphorus from the supply chain perspective, the Global TraPs initiative seeks to bring greater understanding to a number of issues that confront humanity and our environment.”
Based in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, USA, IFDC is a public international organization, governed by an international board of directors with representation from developed and developing countries. The nonprofit Center, with over 700 employees in more than 30 countries in Africa and Eurasia, is supported by various bilateral and multilateral aid agencies, private foundations and national governments.
IFDC focuses on increasing and sustaining food security and agricultural productivity in developing countries through the development and transfer of effective and environmentally sound crop nutrient technology and agribusiness expertise.
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IFDC Contact:
Courtney Greene
cgreene@ifdc.org
256/381-6600 ext 357
