Topic: water quality

Presidential intervention has raised the stakes in a decades-long effort to clean up Chesapeake Bay.

This map identifies only 20 eutrophic coastal zones in all of Africa, of which 8 have documented hypoxia and 12 are areas of concern.

This map identifies just 24 eutrophic coastal areas with documented hypoxia and 9 areas of concern within Asia.

This map identifies 36 eutrophic coastal zones; 9 with documented hypoxia and 27 areas of concern.

This map identifies 168 eutrophic and hypoxic coastal areas in Europe. Fifty-nine of these are documented hypoxic areas, 106 are areas of concern, and 3 are improved systems that are in recovery.

This map identifies 25 eutrophic and hypoxic zones, with 3 having documented hypoxia and 22 areas of concern. Most are found in Brazil, Chile, and Peru.

This map identifies 131 eutrophic and hypoxic coast zones in North America and the Caribbean. Sixty-two have documented hypoxia, 59 are areas of concern, and 10 are systems in recovery.

Eutrophication—the overenrichment of water by nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus—has emerged as a leading water quality problem. This report identifies over 415 areas worldwide that are experiencing eutrophication symptoms, and there are significant information gaps in many regions.

Agriculture, though important to economic development and food security, is a source of increased sediment, nutrient, and pesticide runoff.

This map identifies 415 eutrophic and hypoxic coastal systems worldwide. Of these, 169 are documented hypoxic areas, 233 are areas of concern and 13 are systems in recovery.

Choking Coastal Waters

My team at WRI, together with Dr. Bob Diaz at the Virginia Marine Institute, has identified and mapped 415 eutrophic and hypoxic coastal systems worldwide through an extensive literature review. Of these, 169 are documented hypoxic areas, 233 are areas of concern and 13 are systems in recovery.

How can the estimation of environmental outcomes be used to effectively allocate conservation funding, and what additional steps are needed to improve this process?

How can managers of agricultural operations reduce their greenhouse gas emissions? What opportunities exist under the Conservation Title of the 2007 Farm Bill to enhance climate change mitigation opportunities from the U.S. agricultural sector?