Carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus are the elemental building blocks of life. The cycles of these elements in the biosphere, soils, sea, atmosphere and rocks determine the nature and dynamics of life on a global and regional scale. Through a variety of activities such as CO2 and methane emissions, fertilisation, fisheries and other interventions, human beings bring about huge changes in these cycles. This sets in motion a cascade of biogeochemical processes in soils, in water and also in the atmosphere, which in turn can have major, often unexpected effects on ecosystems and sometimes indirectly feed through to climate.It is of great importance to quantify the totality of processes, operating at different scales of time and space, in order to better anticipate upcoming changes.
In addition, there are great challenges in possible interventions in the various cycles, where we can also use the cycle of elementary building blocks to our advantage. For instance, is it possible to reduce CO2 concentrations in the air by CO2 storage or by using CO2 to produce new fuels? And how can we recover phosphate from (sea) soils? CO2 utilisation, sustainable fixation of nitrogen and renewable phosphate sources are research challenges of great national and international importance.
Connecting character
Interactions between the cycles of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus, human activity and nature at different scales call for a broad, multidisciplinary and internationally coordinated approach, requiring good cooperation between science, economics and policy. Progress in this area will depend on technical innovations to store CO2 and turn this end product into a raw material for new processes and products. This would go a long way in advancing the circular economy. Another topic where technical innovation and basic life science research reinforce each other is the development of synthetic surfaces that, like plant leaves, enable the conversion of light energy into organic energy and the production of oxygen from CO2. The phosphorus shortage needs to be addressed on a global scale. Many natural processes depend on the availability of phosphorus and nitrogen. However, most (eco)systems are not adapted to an excess of these elements, so interventions in the cycles of these substances have major, often negative environmental consequences on land and in water. The changing CO2 balance between water and atmosphere leads to a gradual acidification of the oceans, threatening, among other things, the biodiversity of calcareous organisms such as corals.
