Watch Professor Phil Haygarth's Vlog from the Global Sustainable Phosphorus Summit

Using nutrients from rock phosphates has been a great success story in crop production, it’s helped feed the world for the past 80 years or more. But the success of phosphorus now means some difficult challenges and the need for global collaboration and the sharing of good practice.

“Phosphorus is now in the environment everywhere,” explains Phil Haygarth, Professor of Soil and Water Science in the Lancaster Environment Centre, “in soils and sediments and leaking into rivers, making other plants grow that we don’t want to grow, like algae, and creating potential risks for aquatic and human health.”

The sustainable management of rock phosphates has become a priority for the agriculture and water industry sectors. That’s both in terms of managing its use and long-term supplies, moving towards more of a circular economy approach where phosphorus can be re-cycled and re-used from sources such as wastewater, sewage sludge and food waste.

Work by Phil and his team at the Graduate School for the Environment, in alliance with the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH, West Africa Office) and Rothamsted Research, has led to the Global Sustainable Phosphorus Summit being held in Africa for the first time.

“With its campus in Ghana and role with the Africa Research and Innovation Partnership (ARIP), Lancaster has an ever-growing network on the continent,” said Phil. “The phosphorus issue is an important one for African countries and agriculture there, and holding the Summit in Accra has been a step forward in bringing together local, national and international partners across different communities to focus minds on specific issues and sharing solutions. There needs to be a collective vision in order to build the momentum for change and ensure what we do is part of a joined-up approach.”

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