It's time to prepare for peak phosphorus

摘要

A looming global shortage of an important fertiliser necessitates the development of phosphorus-efficient crops, recycling of phosphorus from sewage and even separating it from urine. Australians should be very concerned and New Zealanders alarmed by their dependence on phosphorus. Why? On a per person assessment, Australians and New Zealanders use 5.3 and 15.4 times more phosphorus than the world average, which is 2.4 kg per person per year.