On cover: Environment agriculture and forestry.

Presenting the first continental-scale assessment of reactive nitrogen in the environment, this book sets the related environmental problems in context by providing a multidisciplinary introduction to the nitrogen cycle processes. Issues of upscaling from farm plot and city to national and continental scales are addressed in detail with emphasis on opportunities for better management at local to global levels. The five key societal threats posed by reactive nitrogen are assessed, providing a framework for joined-up management of the nitrogen cycle in Europe, including the first cost-benefit analysis for different reactive nitrogen forms and future scenarios. Incorporating comprehensive maps, a handy technical synopsis and a summary for policy makers, this landmark volume is an essential reference for academic researchers across a wide range of disciplines, as well as stakeholders and policy makers. It is also a valuable tool in communicating the key environmental issues and future challenges to the wider public.

Nitrogen (N) is potentially one of the most complex elements on the Earth. It is necessary for all biological activity, but creates negative impacts on water and air quality. There is a balancing act between deficiency and surplus and the forms of N available further complicate our understanding of the dynamics. Biological fixation provides some plants with N supply while others are totally dependent upon N being available in the soil profile for the roots to extract. Nevertheless, the demand for N will increase because the human population with its increasing growth requires more protein and thus more N. Understanding the global N cycle is imperative to meeting current and future nitrogen demands while decreasing environmental impacts. This book discusses availability, production, and recycling of N in air, water, plants, and soils. It features information on N impacts to soil and water quality, management of N in agroecosystems, and techniques to maximize the use efficiency while minimizing the risks of leakage of reactive N into the environment. This volume in the Advances in Soil Science series is specifically devoted to availability, production, and recycling of N with impact on climate change and water quality, and management of N in agroecosystems in the context of maximizing the use efficiency and minimizing the risks of leakage of reactive N (NO-3, N¬2O) into the environment.

First published in 1998, this book examines how established policy networks and the broader context within which they are embedded influence the choice of policy when change has been put on the agenda. It criticises the existing network literature for being predominantly descriptive, for having little to say on the choice of policy and for omitting the analysis of the broader political structures which have consequences for meso-level policy making. In order to reinforce the explanatory power of policy network analysis, the book develops both a meso and a macro-level theoretical model. They help to explain why policy change is more radical in some settings than in others. The theoretical arguments are tested by the use of detailed comparisons of agri-environmental policy making in Denmark and Sweden and of agricultural policy reforms in the European Union and Sweden.

First published in 1999, this volume features 13 contributors with expertise in social science and environmental research who have brought together comparative 12 articles which study the connection between humanity and nature, focusing on comparisons between the Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. They are among the most homogeneous and hence most comparable societies in Europe. The articles reflect the need for environmental and political change recognised by social scientists and political scientists across the Nordic countries, with an emphasis on ecological modernisation. They first consider conceptions of the environment, before comparing both between and within these countries. The traditions and institutions presented in the volume reflect the comprehensiveness of the approaches used within the field in the Nordic countries.