Who Governs Nitrogen?: Community Knowledge, Science and Policy at the Nexus of Global Sustainability

Speaker Name: Dr. William San Martín, DIGS
Series: Collaboration for a Better World (DIGS Colloquium Series)
Abstract: Nitrogen is central to the world's most pressing sustainability challenges. Synthetic fertilizers revolutionized food production, but overuse has driven climate change, water pollution,  biodiversity loss, and human health threats. Meanwhile, many farmers lack access to nutrients and suffer from declining soil fertility. Recent fertilizer crises have made these tensions harder to ignore, highlighting the social vulnerabilities of global food-energy systems. However, nitrogen governance problems are often seen as issues of scientific knowledge, technological innovation, and better policy. What happens when farmers, scientists, and policymakers understand the nitrogen problem differently? Drawing on collaborative research in Chile, Kenya, and the U.S., as well as work with the United Nations Environment Programme, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and international science–policy networks, this talk examines the tensions that emerge when diverse knowledge and practices meet across communities, disciplines, and scales. It asks what these tensions can teach us about governing global environmental problems that are simultaneously ecological, technological, political, and deeply social.