Recent reports indicate that atmospheric levels of reactive nitrogen species (RNS) are rising globally, primarily due to increased fossil fuel combustion for energy production and agricultural activities. Fossil fuel usage is altering air composition by adding compounds like NH₃ and NOₓ, along with related species such as HNO₃, HONO, NO₃, N₂O₅, NO₃⁻, peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN), NH₄⁺, and others. These RNS are negatively impacting terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, with several of them being major contributors to climate change. Elevated concentrations of RNS in air and water are also harmful to human health. Additionally, managing nitrogen waste poses a significant economic challenge, with its global impact estimated to range between US$340 billion and US$3.4 trillion annually when considering effects on human health and ecosystems. Food waste exacerbates these issues by disrupting the nitrogen cycle.
Professor Umesh Chandra Kulshrestha is the former Dean of the School of Environmental Sciences of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi (India). He is a chemist turned to a trans-disciplinary researcher. He has been the Director of Trans- disciplinary Research Cluster at Jawaharlal Nehru University. Presently, he is the Deputy Director of the South Asian Nitrogen Centre and a Member of the Steering Committee of the International Nitrogen Initiatives (INI). He is also a Member of the Regional Advisory Committee (RAC) of the Asia Oceania Geosciences Society (AOGS) and the Chair of the Air Pollution Working Group of the RAC-AOGS. His research findings have practical implications in areas such as sustainable air pollution management, climate change mitigation, clean energy and nitrogen management. He has been part of a number of air pollution and atmospheric science programs in Asia such as the Indian Ocean Experiment, ISRO-GBP- Land Campaign II, ISRO-GBP-ICARB, Indo-Swedish Program on Composition of Aerosols and Precipitation in India and Nepal (CAAP), Sida's program on Composition of Atmospheric Deposition (CAD), Regional Air Pollution in Developing Countries (RAPIDC), East Asian Precipitation Chemistry Network (EANET), Atmospheric Brown Cloud (ABC), Jhoom Cultivation and Biomass Burning Campaign in North-East India, UKRI GCRF South Asian Hub. He was the first scientist who reported occurrence of acid rain over the Indian Ocean during the Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX).
Prof. Dr. Md. Mizanur Rahman of Gazipur Agricultural University (GAU) is a nationally and internationally well-known researcher and academician. He started his professional career as a Scientific Officer at the Soil Resource Development Institute (SRDI) in October 1993 and then in November 2006 he left SRDI and joined GAU. Beyond teaching, so far, he has supervised 12 PhD students and 90 MS students in different areas of Soil, Environment and Crop Science. Prof. Rahman has completed several research programs as the Principal/Co-Principal Investigators funded by several national and international agencies. Prof. Rahman served as the Focal Point of the USAID funded 'Feed the Future Bangladesh Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) Activity Project', Country Lead of 'UKRI GCRF South Asian Nitrogen Hub (SANH)' in Bangladesh, Lead Scientist of 'Towards INMS' Project - South Asia Demonstration in Bangladesh, and Deputy Coordinator of the 'Modeling Climate Change Impact on Bangladesh Agriculture' project of Krishi Gobeshona Foundation (KGF).
Dr. Arti Bhatia, a Principal Scientist at the Division of Environment Science, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, has over 27 years of research experience focused on the impacts of climate change on agricultural crops, as well as adaptation and mitigation strategies.Her significant contributions include quantifying greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and reactive nitrogen fluxes from agricultural soils, and evaluating the impact of management practices, as well as biotic and abiotic factors, on GHG emissions, their mitigation, and enhanced nitrogen use efficiency.Her research has improved the accuracy of greenhouse gas emission estimates from Indian agriculture.She contributed to developing a greenhouse gas emission module within the InfoCrop crop growth model. This module predicts the impacts of management practices and climate change on both crop yield and greenhouse gas emissions. Her work also supports the development of Tier 3 GHG inventories and the exploration of adaptation options.She established a free air enrichment facility to quantify the impacts of climate change and identify adaptation options for crops vulnerable to climatic risks.
