New Training to Meet the Global Phosphorus Challenge

The sustainable exploitation of phosphorus (P) is essential for food and water security. However, our current poor management of this essential nutrient represents a pressing challenge, which cause global scale pollution of water resources(2) while failing to achieve equitable access to fertilizers to support food production worldwide.(3) This is, in part, due to poor uptake of advances, for example, in new technologies to reduce losses of P from agriculture, in our understanding of P thresholds for ecosystem functioning, and in sustainable urban development approaches focused on nutrient recycling systems. We identify, here, a pressing need to develop a new generation of nutrient sustainability professionals working collectively to implement diverse and interdiciplinary approaches within large scale urban and rural planning, for example, following the UNESCO Global Action Programme on Education for Sustainable Development, to meet the diverse needs of communities and countries.