INI North America

Overview of the Center

The North American INI Center, established early in 2004, is one of five globally distributed centers of the INI. The North American Nitrogen Center is charged wih assessing how human activity has altered nitrogen flows within North America, determing the environmental, human health, and economic consequences of this alteration, and helping to develop solutions to reduce the problem.

Goals of the Center

• To improve assessments of sources and causes of nitrogen pollution, with an emphasis on evaluating trends in fluxes and environmental exposure.
• To improve assessment of both the ecological and human health consequences of nitrogen pollution in North America.
• To foster the application of judgement of experts to existing knowledge concerning alteration of the nitrogen cycle in order to identify scientifically credible potential solutions.
• To communicate to the public our current scientific knowledge of problems and potential solutions of excess nitrogen in the environment in terms that are relevant to policy making and personal decisions.

Collaboration

The Center will work collaboratively with other institutions and organizations whenever appropriate and will coordinate closely with other INI regional centers to promote comprehensive analysis of problems associated with too much and too little nitrogen in various parts of the world.