Sustainable phosphorus management in European agricultural and environmental law

• Author: Jessica Stubenrauch,Felix Ekardt,Beatrice Garske
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/reel.12318
• Date: 01 April 2020
• Published date: 01 April 2020

RECIEL. 2020;29:107–117.  

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  107wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/reel

1 | THE NEED FOR PHOSPHORUS

GOVERNANCE

Plants, animals and humans cannot exist without phosphorus (P). As

essential element, it is crucial for food production.1 Despite the de-

pendence of European agriculture on imported rock phosphate, the

nutrient is used inefficiently.2 On the one hand, non-sustainable P use

can lead to nutrient deficits and thus to a reduction of the soil yield

potential. On the other hand, phosphorus also accumulates in the soil

and the risk of P discharge into water bodies and eutrophication in-

creases, especially in regions with high livestock densities and a corre-

sponding high amount of manure. At the same time, P losses from

waste streams which are not utilized for P recovery are still consider-

ably high.3 In addition, remaining (predominantly sedimentary) phos-

phate rock reserves contain rising levels of heavy metals like cadmium

(Cd) and uranium (U), thus creating another threat to ecosystems and

human health.4 Improved P management can help to prevent eutro-

phication of water bodies due to P surpluses, avoid P deficits to pre-

serve soil fertility in the long term, safeguard the mineral P reserves

and thereby minimize Europe’s phosphate rock import dependency.

This article e xamines the extent to w hich the status quo of

European agricultural and environmental legislation already reflects

1 OF Schouman s et al, ‘Phosph orus Manageme nt in Europe in a Chan ging World’ (2015 )

44 Suppl 2 Am bio 180, 180 and 188 ; K Ashley, D Cordell a nd D Mavinic, ‘A Brie f History

of Phosphor us: From the Philos opher’s Stone to N utrient Recove ry and Reuse’ (20 11) 84

The Phospho rus Cycle 737, 737.

2 Schoumans e t al (n 1) 180ff; AN Sh arpley et al, ‘Fu ture Agricul ture with Minim ized

Phosphoru s Losses to Waters : Research Need s and Directio n’ (2015) 44 Ambio 16 3,

163ff; D Cord ell et al, ‘Towards G lobal Phospho rus Securit y: A Systems Frame work for

Phosphoru s Recovery and Re use Options’ (20 11) 84 The Phospho rus Cycle 747, 747.

3 G Tóth et al, ‘Phosp horus Levels in C roplands of the Eu ropean Union wi th Implicati ons

for P Fertili zer Use’ (2014) 55 Europea n Journal of Agr onomy 42, 49ff; S harpley et al (n 2)

166; Schouman s et al (n 1) 180 and 188.

4 The reser ves of phosphate ro ck amount to abou t 70 million tons. A round 75 percent of

the world’s kn own reserves a re located in Mo rocco and Wester n Sahara, a poli tically

unstable r egion. See US Ge ological Sur vey, ‘Mineral Com modity Summ aries’ (2019) 123.

Regarding ‘P eak P’, see J Stuben rauch, Phosphor-Governance in ländervergleichender

Perspektiv e – Deutschlan d, Costa Rica, Ni caragua: Ein Be itrag zur Nachh altigkeits- und

Bodenschutzpolitik (Metropo lis 2019) 57ff; CM Mew, G Stei ner and B Geissle r,

‘Phosphor us Supply Chai n – Scientific , Technical, and Eco nomic Foundat ions: A

Transdiscipl inary Orient ation’ (2018) 10 Sus tainabilit y 1, 5; J Köhn, D Zimmer a nd P

Leinweber, ‘Ph osphorus Econ omics – A Review’ ( 2017) Mechanism s of Economic

Regulation 6 , 6ff.

Received: 16 Augu st 2019 

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  Revised: 21 Novembe r 2019 

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  Accepted: 12 Decem ber 2019

DOI: 10 .1111/reel .12318

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Sustainable phosphorus management in European agricultural

and environmental law

Beatrice Garske  | Jessica Stubenrauch | Felix Ekardt

This is an open ac cess article und er the terms of the Crea tive Commons Attr ibution License, w hich permits use , distribution an d reproduction i n any medium,

provided the o riginal work is prop erly cited.

© 2020 The Autho rs. Review of Europea n, Comparative & Inter national Environm ental Law publishe d by John Wiley & Sons Ltd .

Correspondence

Email: beatrice.garske@uni-rostock.de Abstract

Sustainable phosphorus management is indispensable for global food sec urity and

the conservatio n of soil and water bodies . Phosphorus governance is rooted in v ari-

ous areas of law, in particul ar the Common Agricultura l Policy of the European Union

as well as European and nati onal soil conservation law, water cons ervation law, fer-

tilizer law, circular economy law and o rganic farming law. This arti cle provides an

analysis of the extent to w hich previously identifie d aspects of sustainab le phos-

phorus management a re reflected in the status quo of European agricultural and en-

vironmental law. It shows th e potential for improvement regardi ng the integration

of phosphorus-related is sues in existing regulation an d points out that estab lishing

economic instru ments might help to overcome governance defi cits of regulatory law.