The responsibility is not only in the hands of the producers. Everyone’s participation is necessary, which includes, of course, consumers. This is one of the reflections made by a group of scientists led by Estela Romero, researcher at the Center for Ecological Research and Forest Applications (Creaf), and who publishes an editorial in ‘Science of the Total Environment’ along with a series of articles in which analyzes the influence of agricultural and livestock nitrogen on the natural environment.
The reflection, titled ‘Nitrogen in agri-food systems and the environment: next steps for a sustainable future’, reviews the different research. One of them uses a comparative model with 127 regions of Europe with which, in addition to confirming the high specialization of agriculture throughout the continent, with regions with very high production and a strong dependence on long-distance trade, it ensures that 70% of the nitrogen in fertilizers is wasted and ends up in the environment.
Among the answers, the ‘farm to fork’ model proposed by FAO, which will have positive effects such as a 40% reduction in fertilizers synthetics or a 30% drop in wasted nitrogen. Measures that have to be carried out together with consumers and producers, although the latter are usually not aware of the damage they do to their environment. This is what another study says, which asked farmers and ranchers in Germany about the impacts of fertilizers: on many occasions they were reluctant to believe that the impact of their actions was so great.
«It will be very difficult for them to change if there are no stricter regulations. That is why it must be accompanied by the measures that are necessary,” explains Estela Romero. Restrictive measures have been established in the Mar Menor watershed, with precautionary measures imposed on irrigation by the Segura Hydrographic Confederation, as well as by the measures established in the Law of Recovery and Protection of the Mar Menor, which It is currently under review in the Regional Assembly. Obligations that have changed the way of production, but have not stopped direct pollution to the salt lagoon.
contaminated aquifer
The answer to the question of, if there is no longer so much pollution, why the situation has not changed, has a scientific answer. The problem was generated for decades and, at least, it will take two for the levels of nitrates entering the Mar Menor to decrease, as Romero explains: «The Mar Menor is a classic example of the consequences of the excessive use of fertilizers. This case is the center of a lot of studies at the European level and now the inputs of nitrogen and fertilizers are more controlled, but the problem is that there is a lot accumulated in the aquifers.
A turn for the agri-food model
They propose measures to make an agroecological transition that reduces emissions by half while feeding the European population. To implement them you have to look for, they say, the right incentives.
1. Reduce excessive consumption of animal meat, which entails a change in diet with the inclusion of vegetable protein.
2. Increase the consumption of local products.
3. Changes in fertilization, with greater crop rotation that includes plants that fix nitrogen, such as legumes.
4. Reconnect agriculture and livestock so that waste serves as fertilizer.
5. Optimize distribution chains.
Groundwater masses, such as the Quaternary aquifer that is under the Campo de Cartagena and that discharges part of its accumulated reserves to the Mar Menor, They are contaminated by the pressure to which they were subjected and these masses have a much slower dynamic than surface waters, which is why the transfer of pollution lasts over time.
«It is an inherited problem, since now the doses are calculated much better, but you have a decades-long problem“Adds the scientist, who relates it to a study carried out in the Seine, in Paris, on the delay in the release of pollution from the aquifer that lasted more than 20 years. «In the 90s, good management practices were implemented and nitrate regulations were applied. The entry on the surface was controlled, although the results in the river did not begin to be seen until 2014,” he points out.
The Mar Menor is a complex place, because, he concludes, there is a complicated casuistry of both coastal and terrestrial dynamics, with a “super intensive” agricultural system that is stuck. Many steps forward have been taken, so now we have to wait and not amend the path we have taken.
