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A new booklet designed to highlight the widespread environmental damage caused by ammonia emissions was published today.

Ammonia in the UK, a booklet from Defra, will help raise awareness of the effects of ammonia emissions and stimulate discussion on what can be done to reduce its impact.

More than 80 per cent of ammonia pollution is produced by agriculture, mainly from livestock manure but also from nitrogen fertilizers. Non-agricultural sources include sewage sludge, landfill and vehicles fitted with catalytic converters.

The 90-page publication includes maps, photographs and diagrams and will be issued to farming and environmental groups, and others interested in working with Defra to tackle ammonia pollution.

It summarises the findings of years of research, covering sources of emissions, monitoring of ammonia in the atmosphere, impacts on the environment and potential techniques to reduce emissions.

Defra has also produced a less technical, eight-page summary of the booklet, 'Ammonia in the UK - Key Points'.

Ammonia deposits on plants, soil and water cause widespread environmental problems. Ammonia can also be blown hundreds of kilometres and absorbed into rain, making hills, mountains, and other areas receiving high rainfall, particularly vulnerable.

The effects of ammonia pollution include:

• spread of grass over areas which were previously mainly heather, such as lowland heaths and Scottish moors.
• decrease in moss cover in areas such as moss-dominated heath in many upland areas in northern England and parts of Scotland, in upland grass in the northern Pennines and on blanket bogs in the southern Pennines.
• decline in plants that require only low levels of nutrients, particularly on upland habitats, a trend illustrated by The New Atlas of the British and Irish Flora, published last month by Defra.

Food and Farming Minister Lord Whitty said:

"Reducing the effects of ammonia on the environment is one of the challenges for sustainable agriculture. Ammonia deposits can upset the delicate balance of plant communities, promoting the rapid growth of a few species to the detriment of many others.

"This publication will help to bring these problems into focus and help conservationists and farming groups to work with the Government to forge solutions."

Defra is already operating a research programme to examine methods for manure management which could be reliable and cost-effective in reducing emissions. It is assessing spreading and storage methods on commercial farms.

Notes for editors

1. Both 'Ammonia in the UK' and the eight-page summary document 'Ammonia in the UK - Key Points' can be viewed at: www.defra.gov.uk/environment/airquality/ammonia/index.htm

They are also available in hard copy, free of charge, from: 'Ammonia Booklet,' AEQ Division, Defra, 4/D11 Ashdown House, 123 Victoria Street, London SW1E 6DE.

2. The UK is committed to reducing annual ammonia emissions to 297 kilotonnes by 2010 under the United Nations Economic Commission for the Europe Convention on Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution's Gothenburg Protocol and the EC National Emission Ceilings Directive. Between 1990 and 2000, there was a five per cent decrease, and if this trend continues, it is expected that this target will be reached. If it does not, emissions will need to be reduced; the publication of this booklet is one way that Defra and the devolved administrations are raising awareness and sharing the results of years of research with stakeholders to devise effective techniques to reduce emissions.

Ammonia emissions are far higher than they were 50 years ago, largely because of the intensification of agriculture which has led to more nitrogen fertiliser being used on land and in animal feeds.

3. Ammonia is one of the pollutants addressed under the EC Integrated Pollution, Prevention and Control (IPPC) Directive which controls pollution from industrial processes, including large pig and poultry units (those with capacity for more than 40,000 poultry, 2,000 pigs over 30kg or 750 sows).

4. Ammonia is a source of nutrient nitrogen and when it is deposited onto land it can enrich the nitrogen content of habitats. The UK landscape tolerates only low levels of nutrients, and deposits can upset the balance, favouring the growth of a few common, fast-growing species at the expense of a greater range of rarer species

Nitrogen enrichment threatens about a third of valuable ecosystems in the UK, including upland and lowland heath, upland bog, semi-natural grassland and some woodlands. When deposited in large quantities, it can cause upland soil and water to become acidic, affecting plants and biodiversity.

5. Seeking solutions to the problems caused by ammonia is part of a wider strategy to control pollution from agriculture and other sources. In June 2002, Defra published a discussion paper on the Strategic Review of Diffuse Water Pollution from Agriculture in England. At the same time, it announced the extension of Nitrate Vulnerable Zones to 55 per cent of England, and designated 33 more water bodies as sensitive areas under the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive. For full details, please see news releases 251/02, which can be viewed at: http://www.defra.gov.uk/news/2002/020627b.htm

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Press Notices available via Defra website

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