Abstract
| Language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages | 40-49 |
| Journal | Global Environmental Change |
| Volume | 54 |
| Issue number | 2019 |
| State | Published - Jan 2019 |
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Keywords
- Targets; Excessive anthropogenic nitrogen; Governing by targets; Nitrogen governance; Nitrogen regime; Evaluation of governance options
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Confronting the nitrogen challenge: Options for governance and target setting. / Morseletto, P.
In: Global Environmental Change, Vol. 54, No. 2019, 01.2019, p. 40-49.Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review
TY - JOUR
T1 - Confronting the nitrogen challenge: Options for governance and target setting
AU - Morseletto,P.
PY - 2019/1
Y1 - 2019/1
N2 - The release of excessive anthropogenic nitrogen contributes to global climate change, biodiversity loss, and the degradation of ecosystem services. Despite being an urgent global problem, the excess nitrogen is not governed globally. This paper considers possible governance options for dealing with excessive nitrogen through target setting, which is an approach commonly adopted to address global environmental problems. The articulation of the nitrogen problem and the numerous international institutions dealing with it, provide evidence of a nitrogen regime characterised by limited coordination and targets covering sources and impacts only partially. This calls for improving the nitrogen governance in the direction of more integrated approaches at the global scale. In this vein, the paper investigates two opposite governance options – here labelled as ‘holistic’ and ‘origin-based’ – and evaluates them for their capability to define solutions and targets for human-induced nitrogen. From the analysis, it emerges that origin-based solutions can be preferable to holistic solutions as they can be more specific and potentially have greater immediate results. Independent from which governance arrangement is chosen, what matters most is the speed at which an arrangement can deploy solutions to combat (fast-growing) nitrogen pollution.
AB - The release of excessive anthropogenic nitrogen contributes to global climate change, biodiversity loss, and the degradation of ecosystem services. Despite being an urgent global problem, the excess nitrogen is not governed globally. This paper considers possible governance options for dealing with excessive nitrogen through target setting, which is an approach commonly adopted to address global environmental problems. The articulation of the nitrogen problem and the numerous international institutions dealing with it, provide evidence of a nitrogen regime characterised by limited coordination and targets covering sources and impacts only partially. This calls for improving the nitrogen governance in the direction of more integrated approaches at the global scale. In this vein, the paper investigates two opposite governance options – here labelled as ‘holistic’ and ‘origin-based’ – and evaluates them for their capability to define solutions and targets for human-induced nitrogen. From the analysis, it emerges that origin-based solutions can be preferable to holistic solutions as they can be more specific and potentially have greater immediate results. Independent from which governance arrangement is chosen, what matters most is the speed at which an arrangement can deploy solutions to combat (fast-growing) nitrogen pollution.
KW - Targets; Excessive anthropogenic nitrogen; Governing by targets; Nitrogen governance; Nitrogen regime; Evaluation of governance options
M3 - Article
VL - 54
SP - 40
EP - 49
JO - Global Environmental Change
T2 - Global Environmental Change
JF - Global Environmental Change
SN - 0959-3780
IS - 2019
ER -