United Nations organization

The United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-HABITAT, is the United Nations agency for human settlements.

The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO)advocates the application of an integrated plant nutrient management (IPNM) concept at the farm level within an ecosystem approach to sustainable intensification. This requires that, policy decision-makers, extension workers, farmers, the scientific community and other stakeholders concerned with agricultural development have a clear understanding of the subject. FAO promotes large-scale adoption of IPNM through field projects, expert consultations and publications.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is involved in a number of nutrient reduction and management initiatives in both its river and lake basin and Large Marine Ecosystem portfolios. For example, for 15 years UNDP supported efforts to reduce nutrient pollution in the Danube River basin and associated eutrophication in the NW shelf of the Black Sea. A combination of investments and national and regional governance reforms has led to measurable reductions in nutrient emissions, nutrient levels and a near elimination of the Black Sea’s dead zone.

The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO is addressing the issue of nutrient loading to the marine environment integrated into a number of its major science programmes. In a broader context the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) is designed and being implemented to embrace the oceans as a single entity, to provide a global view of the ocean system. It is a permanent global system for observations, modelling and analysis of marine and ocean variables to support operational ocean services worldwide.