Research on peak phosphorus wins national award

Research by UTS's Institute for Sustainable Futures into the looming peak in global phosphate production for fertilisers has won the 2011 Mercedes-Benz Australian Environmental Research Award presented by the Banksia Environmental Foundation.

ISF Director Professor Stuart White and Research Principal Dr Dana Cordell lead an international research initiative that has resulted in the launch of the Global Phosphorus Network – the first public platform of its kind to allow dialogue and debate on this important global security and sustainability issue.

"With 7 billion people now on the planet there will be an inevitable increase in the demand on the world's natural resources, including phosphorus," Dr Cordell said.

"The human body needs phosphorus to function and it comes from food, which in turn comes from the phosphorus in soils that enables crops to grow. Population growth and intensive farming methods since the 1960s have depleted the phosphorus that occurs in our soils naturally. Today we are dependent on applying concentrated phosphate fertilisers to grow crops.

"However, global supplies of concentrated high-grade phosphate rock – which took around 15 million years to develop under the seabed – may run out in the next 50 to 100 years."

Professor White said peak phosphorus was often highly misunderstood as the "year we will run out of phosphorus."

"The peak actually refers to the point in time when production will no longer be able to keep up with demand," he said. "Whilst the exact timeline is uncertain, it will be much sooner than the time when all the reserves have been depleted. Even before the peak in production occurs, there is the prospect of significant price spikes and impact on farmers and global crop yields."

Accepting the award Dr Cordell said that whatever the exact year of peak phosphorus, it was clear we needed to start taking action now.

"This means investing in renewable phosphorus fertilisers (by recovering and reusing phosphorus from our excreta, manure and food waste) and increasing the efficiency of phosphorus use from mining to fertiliser application to food processing," she said.

The $30,000 Mercedes-Benz Australian Environmental Research Award will be used to further the Institute's considerable body of research into phosphorus futures.

The ISF will host the 3rd Sustainable Phosphorus Summit: Developing a Blueprint for Sustainable Phosphorus Security at UTS from 29 February to 2 March next year.