Nitrogen is one of the major nutrients needed for healthy plant growth. Best current opportunity to increase soil fertilty Kueneman's comments follow an FAO review of strategies for nitrogen-fixation. Unfortunately, reported the FAO, the use of BNF technologies is sometimes discouraged by national policies such as subsidies on inorganic fertilizers. These reduce the competitiveness of BNF technologies and contribute to the inappropriate use of synthetic fertilizers. The pollutants, which include pesticides, industrial chemicals and hazardous by-products of combustion, are known to become concentrated in the fats of animals and to build up in the breast milk of nursing mothers.
POPs can kill, cause birth defects or generate diseases such as cancer.
Fifty ratifications are required for the Convention to enter into force. The Convention sets out control measures covering the production, import, export, disposal, and use of POPs. The POPs Review Committee will consider additional candidates for the POPs list on a regular basis. The WRI research team headed by Vice President Robert Repetto and researcher Sanjay Baliga worked closely with a scientific advisory panel from the National Institutes of Health, World Health Organization, Stanford University, and the Minnesota Department of Health. One of the 1968 Prague Spring generation of students, Koncho became a permaculture pioneer following perestroika in the 1990s.