TFRN-13 & Special Workshop on Ammonia

TFRN-13 with a special focus on ‘Progress on ammonia in the context of the Gothenburg Protocol’ (11th-12th October), preceded by a Workshop on Ammonia (a North American context) (10th October) and followed by an optional visit to the INMS North American Demonstration, Nooksack and Fraser Valley (near Vancouver 13th-14th October)

This year’s meeting of the Task Force on Reactive Nitrogen (TFRN-13) was held in Ottawa, hosted by Environment and Climate Change Canada, and in partnership with NitroPortugal, on the 11-12th October. TFRN-13 was preceded by a Workshop on Ammonia (a North American Context) on the 10th. Given the importance to TFRN of the linked work under the International Nitrogen Management System (INMS), the TFRN meeting was followed by an optional field visit to the Nooksack River and Lower Fraser Valley catchments (13th-14th October) to view activities under the INMS North American Demonstration.

11th-12th October: TFRN-13 - Thirteenth Meeting of the Task Force on Reactive Nitrogen

The TFRN-13 meeting brought together scientists and policymakers to compare successes, barriers and progress in implementing and assessing ammonia mitigation policies in a session entitled ‘‘Progress with ammonia in the context of the Gothenburg Protocol’. As the Gothenburg Protocol 2020 target rapidly approaches, many Parties to the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (the “UNECE Air Convention”) are starting to put in place national legislation, especially to meet committed emissions ceilings. This was therefore a timely opportunity to showcase progress on the most recent policies and to examine whether the air monitoring networks are sufficient to assess the effectiveness of ammonia policies.

The rest of the meeting provided the opportunity to review the work programme of TFRN, sharing experiences and scoping emerging challenges. It included dedicated sessions on the Expert Panel on Mitigation of Agricultural Nitrogen (EPMAN) and the Expert Panel on Nitrogen in EECCA Countries (EPN EECCA), together with reporting of progress under the Expert Panel on Nitrogen Budgets (EPNB) and the Expert Panel on Nitrogen and Food (EPNB).  The EPMAN session also worked in partnership with Activity 2.3 of INMS on “Integrating measures for good practice across the nitrogen cycle”.

*New: Outputs from this meeting are now available to view here.

13th-14th October 2018: Optional field visit to the INMS North American Demonstration, Nooksack and Fraser Valley (near Vancouver).

Please click here for more information on the International Nitrogen Management System (INMS).

Following the TFRN-13 meeting, the INMS North American Demonstration activity hosted a short weekend site-visit. The field visit provided the opportunity to see nitrogen management challenges in action, highlighting how citizen engagement has mobilized attention, while linking Canada and USA in a transboundary partnership for better water quality, air quality and lower GHG emissions.

Outputs from this meeting will be posted very soon on the INMS website: inms.international

10th October: Workshop on Ammonia (North American context)

Preceding the TFRN-13 workshop, on the 10th October, a Workshop on Ammonia (a North American context) also took place. The workshop broadly covered three themes: sources, trends and effects of ammonia on air quality and the environment; gaps and challenges in measurement, estimation and understanding of impacts of ammonia and mitigation approaches.

Outputs from this meeting will be posted very soon.