Opening access to the black box: The need for reporting on the global phosphorus supply chain

Abstract

Phosphorus (P) is an essential macronutrient in agriculture; however, lack of reporting makes its supply chain a black box. By using literature synthesis on the P challenge, we identify four areas where the reporting process is problematic: P reserves and resources; P losses along the supply chain; P externalities; and access to data. We find that in these areas, the reporting system is inconsistent, inaccurate, incomplete, fragmented and nontransparent. We use systems analysis to discuss implications of reporting on the sustainability of the P supply chain. We find that reporting is essential for the achievement of global P governance and the human right to adequate food. It can also inform decision makers and other impacted stakeholders on policies on agriculture, food security, pollution and international conflict. An improved P reporting process also allows a better evaluation of global sustainability commitments such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Barriers to and uncertainties in understanding and quantifying global critical mineral and element supply

“…This will not only provide the world with the critical raw materials for a sustainable future but also allow mining operations to extract the most value from their ores. Finally, there is a need to update the resource reporting protocol and encourage industry to report mineral resource estimates for by-products (Jowitt et al, 2013;Nedelciu et al, 2020). While these mineral resource estimates will have greater uncertainty compared to code compliant mineral resource and ore reserve estimates, it will fulfill a significant void in supply data that is required to estimate global critical mineral and element resources with confidence.…”

“…This is compounded by the fact that these elements are produced at smelters or refineries downstream of a mine, despite not being reported in the associated reserves or resources for the mine in question. The majority of these downstream operations also process mineral concentrates from multiple mines, meaning the materials flows of these critical elements are very difficult to track (e.g., Zimmermann, 2017;Nedelciu et al, 2020;McNulty and Jowitt, in review). This also presumes that the smelter and/or refinery that is processing the concentrate is able to extract the critical elements that are present within the concentrate at a reasonable recovery rate, or even at all.…”

Beyond Sugar and Ethanol Production: Value Generation Opportunities Through Sugarcane Residues

“…For the cropping systems, outflows of these nutrients are mostly lost. As mining options for these nutrients are limited, especially in case of P (Elser and Bennett, 2011;Cordell and White, 2014;Nedelciu et al, 2020), or as provision in large quantities depends on cheap fossil energy in case of N (Lin et al, 2017;Harchaoui and Chatzimpiros, 2019), this results in a limitation of nutrient supply for future crop production. A high level of biomass production and especially a high yield per hectare without overshooting natural limitations is required, as the transition to bioeconomy needs additional biomass resources, i.e., additional to the rising demand for food and feed due to rising population and changing diets.…”

Phosphorus Governance within Planetary Boundaries: The Potential of Strategic Local Resource Planning in The Hague and Delfland, The Netherlands

“…Demand for phosphorus fertilizer is projected to increase by nearly 400% by 2050 [9]. This exacerbates the challenge of possible scarcity, given the uncertainty in reserve longevity estimates [10][11][12].…”