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The phosphorus trilemma

Nature Geoscience volume 6, pages 897–898 (2013)Cite this article

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Mineable phosphorus reserves are confined to a handful of countries. Reductions in wastage could free up this resource for low-income, food-deficient countries.

A key component of DNA, cell membranes and cellular energy transport, phosphorus is essential to every form of life. Yet most soils contain only low concentrations of this nutrient. Phosphorus inputs in the form of fertilizers are therefore essential for food production around the globe. The majority of phosphorus for agriculture is mined from finite, and therefore exhaustible1,2, sedimentary phosphorite deposits. Growing demands for food and biofuels mean that these reserves could become exhausted in the next 40 to 400 years1,2. As such, phosphorus is expected to become economically inaccessible to low-income and food-deficient countries.

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Figure 1: Global map of phosphorus-fertilizer input for wheat (kg P per hectare), estimated for around the year 2000.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Ecosystem Services and Management Program, Schlossplatz 1, Laxenburg, A-2361, Austria

    Michael Obersteiner & Marijn van der Velde

  2. CSIC, Global Ecology Unit, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, 08193, Catalonia, Spain

    Josep Peñuelas

  3. CREAF, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, 08193, Catalonia, Spain

    Josep Peñuelas

  4. Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, IPSL, Gif-sur-Yvette, France

    Philippe Ciais

  5. Biology Department, Universiteit Antwerpen, Universiteitsplein 1, Antwerpen, B-2610, Wilrijk, Belgium

    Ivan A. Janssens

Authors
  1. Michael Obersteiner
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  2. Josep Peñuelas
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  3. Philippe Ciais
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  4. Marijn van der Velde
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  5. Ivan A. Janssens
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Josep Peñuelas.

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Obersteiner, M., Peñuelas, J., Ciais, P. et al. The phosphorus trilemma. Nature Geosci 6, 897–898 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1990

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