INI South Asia
Overview of the centre
The South Asian Nitrogen Centre, established in 2012, is one of the six centres of the INI. South Asia includes five ocean-faring countries, namely Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka and three land-locked countries, Afganisthan, Bhutan and Nepal with high nitrogen risks and associated eutrophication from nutrient enrichment due to leakages from agriculture, aquaculture, sewage, industrial effluents, marine trade and transport. The centre is tasked with assessing the impact of anthropogenic activities on the alteration of nitrogen flows, determining the ecological, environmental, health impacts and their economic consequences, cataloguing technologies and supporting policy initiatives in the member countries to address the issue.
Goals of the centre
- To catalogue sources of nitrogen pollution and evaluate trends in reactive-N fluxes in diverse sectors of the environment
- To refine assessment of ecological and environmental consequences of nitrogen pollution in South Asia
- To interact with the stakeholders on available information on the reactive-N issues and identify scientifically sound and applicable technologies through case studies.
- To act as a link between the public, industry and the policy makers on reactive-N issues.
Collaboration
The centre is working in collaboration with various Government departments of member countries of South Asia, various research organizations and NGOs, and other regional research centres of INI to promote concept of appropriate nitrogen use in the region.
