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This indicator is based on nutrient, pesticide, plastic and air pollution.
Pollution is an important driver of biodiversity and ecosystem change throughout all biomes. While terrestrial ecosystems have been affected by nitrogen-phosphorous fertilisers, these have had a far more pernicious effect on the biodiversity of freshwater and marine habitats, leading to eutrophication and hypoxic or ‘dead’ zones that support no aquatic life. PM 2.5 is the annual global surface concentrations (micrograms per cubic meter) of all composition ground-level fine particulate matter of 2.5 micrometers or smaller. Exposure to high average concentrations of PM2.5 over time has been a reliable predictor of heightened mortality. There are multiple sources of air pollution, including emissions from industries, through the use of fossil fuels, agricultural processes, and vehicular emissions. In regard to plastic pollution, wind and rain can carry mismanaged waste into our rivers and out to sea where it endangers wildlife and can enter the food chain. The values of freshwater environments relate to the mismanaged plastic waste in kg/year/km2, while the marine plastic waste metrics refer to the emissions from rivers in metric tons/year and to the ocean plastics concentration in grams/km2.
The BRF only focusses on nutrient, pesticide, plastic and air pollution at this point. Terrestrial: FAO data has been used to calculate total nitrogen and pesticides per hectare of cropland. Please note that this source data is only available on a country level. Freshwater: McDowell’s projected median concentrations for total nitrogen concentrations during the growing season for catchments across the globe were used; as well as Lebreton's estimates on the accumulation of mismanaged plastic waste in the environment. Marine areas: Halpern’s impact score for nutrient pollution (from fertilizer runoff) and organic chemical pollution have been used, in addition to Lebreton's and Eriksen's datasets of plastic emissions to the world's oceans and and floating ocean plastics, respectively. Air: Hammer et.al. (2022) measured average concentrations of PM2.5 by combining Aerosol Optical Depth retrievals from multiple satellite algorithms.
What does very high risk mean for this indicator?
Areas of very high risk have high levels of nitrogen and pesticides per hectare of cropland (>77kg/ha; >5.9kg/ha, respectively); high total N concentrations in freshwater (>2.6mg/L); high amounts of mismanaged plastic waste (> 2000 kg/year/km2); a very high nutrient & chemical pollution impact score in marine areas (>0.156); elevated emissions of plastics from rivers to oceans and high floating plastic concentrations in ocean waters (>1000 tons/year and >150 grams/km2, respectively); experience more than 50 mg/m2 of PM 2.5. See the documentation for more details.
This indicator is based on nutrient, pesticide, plastic and air pollution.
Pollution is an important driver of biodiversity and ecosystem change throughout all biomes. While terrestrial ecosystems have been affected by nitrogen-phosphorous fertilisers, these have had a far more pernicious effect on the biodiversity of freshwater and marine habitats, leading to eutrophication and hypoxic or ‘dead’ zones that support no aquatic life. PM 2.5 is the annual global surface concentrations (micrograms per cubic meter) of all composition ground-level fine particulate matter of 2.5 micrometers or smaller. Exposure to high average concentrations of PM2.5 over time has been a reliable predictor of heightened mortality. There are multiple sources of air pollution, including emissions from industries, through the use of fossil fuels, agricultural processes, and vehicular emissions. In regard to plastic pollution, wind and rain can carry mismanaged waste into our rivers and out to sea where it endangers wildlife and can enter the food chain. The values of freshwater environments relate to the mismanaged plastic waste in kg/year/km2, while the marine plastic waste metrics refer to the emissions from rivers in metric tons/year and to the ocean plastics concentration in grams/km2.
The BRF only focusses on nutrient, pesticide, plastic and air pollution at this point. Terrestrial: FAO data has been used to calculate total nitrogen and pesticides per hectare of cropland. Please note that this source data is only available on a country level. Freshwater: McDowell’s projected median concentrations for total nitrogen concentrations during the growing season for catchments across the globe were used; as well as Lebreton's estimates on the accumulation of mismanaged plastic waste in the environment. Marine areas: Halpern’s impact score for nutrient pollution (from fertilizer runoff) and organic chemical pollution have been used, in addition to Lebreton's and Eriksen's datasets of plastic emissions to the world's oceans and and floating ocean plastics, respectively. Air: Hammer et.al. (2022) measured average concentrations of PM2.5 by combining Aerosol Optical Depth retrievals from multiple satellite algorithms.
What does very high risk mean for this indicator?
Areas of very high risk have high levels of nitrogen and pesticides per hectare of cropland (>77kg/ha; >5.9kg/ha, respectively); high total N concentrations in freshwater (>2.6mg/L); high amounts of mismanaged plastic waste (> 2000 kg/year/km2); a very high nutrient & chemical pollution impact score in marine areas (>0.156); elevated emissions of plastics from rivers to oceans and high floating plastic concentrations in ocean waters (>1000 tons/year and >150 grams/km2, respectively); experience more than 50 mg/m2 of PM 2.5. See the documentation for more details.