RC 4.4a

Stakeholder involvement in sustainable management of nitrogen- a framework for integrated participatory modelling

Project description

In the era of modern agriculture, intensive and specialized livestock and crop production has increased the surplus of nutrients in Western countries, including Denmark. While this development in the agricultural sector has ensured a stable and secured food supply, it has also caused increased nutrient losses to the environment and the environmental side effects of particularly nitrogen (N) use in agriculture has become a matter of rising concern in Europe and Denmark.
Managing N is therefore an important but challenging task that must be synthesized by science and society in forms that are useful for policymakers and society in general. This involves bringing different disciplines and stakeholders together at different geographical scales. A diversity of approaches to involve stakeholders in modelling has emerged. These participatory approaches involve different types of researcher–stakeholder interactions and different potentials for co-production of knowledge.

Morten Graversgaards Ph.D. project aims to examine the barriers and opportunities of involving multiple stakeholders at multiple scales in the current management of N and for this new sustainable N management models and participatory concepts shall be developed. Through a series of scenario workshops, in different catchments, an N -bio-physical model will be integrated with inputs from stakeholders to further enhance the resource effectiveness of N usage. The project will identify the potentials for developing a fully integrated socio-biophysical model.

Ph.D. student Morten Graversgaard