Knowledge for Integrated Nutrient Management Action Plan (INMAP)

In the Biodiversity Strategy to 2030, the Farm to Fork Strategy and the Zero Pollution Action Plan the European Union has set an ambitious and ground-breaking goal to reduce by 50% nutrient losses to the environment (air, water, soil) by 2030, while preserving soil fertility. To this end, the Commission will work with Member States to develop an Integrated Nutrient Management Action Plan (INMAP). The 'Knowledge for INMAP' project, developed by the JRC during the year 2021, aimed to gather scientific knowledge and data available in the EU to support the discussion and preparation of the Integrated Nutrient Management Action Plan. In particular, the work focused on three major tasks: 1) the description of the current flows of nitrogen and phosphorus in the EU considering all sources and sectors involved (agriculture, industries, urban, energy and transport) and all environmental losses in air, water, and soils; 2) the evaluation of the distance to environmental targets, considering the EU legislation and strategies; 3) the analysis of measures to reduce nutrient pollution at different intervention points in the nutrient cycle. Online map viewers and dashboards were also developed to facilitate the visualisation of the collected data and the analysis of regional pollution hotspots and major polluting sources