Action plan to reduce ammonia emissions from agriculture in Finland
Maa- ja metsätalousministeriö
08.03.2018
Julkaisusarja:
Publications of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry 1b/2018This publication is copyrighted. You may download, display and print it for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-453-974-6Tiivistelmä
International agreements and the EU legislation oblige Finland to reduce ammonia emissions into the air. According to the Gothenburg Protocol to the Convention on Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution and the National Emission Ceilings Directive relating to it (2001/81/EC), as from 2010 the annual ammonia emissions in Finland should not have exceeded 31 kilotonnes. Finland has exceeded the emissions reduction obligation by about 20 per cent each year. The Gothenburg Protocol was amended in 2012 to further reduce ammonia emissions so that from 2020 they should be 20 per cent less than they were in 2005. Within the EU the amendments to the Protocol are implemented by the new National Emission Ceilings Directive (2016/2284). In Finland more than 90 per cent of the ammonia emissions originate from agricultural sources, which is why most of the actions to reduce the emissions are to be targeted to agriculture. In agriculture, ammonia originates from animal manure in livestock buildings and during storing and spreading of manure. Ammonia volatiles also from other organic fertilisers containing nitrogen, as well as from mineral N- fertilisers. The most effective measures to reduce ammonia emissions in agriculture concern animal manure and it's management. Ammonia emissions can also be reduced by actions relating to the feeding of animals, but regulating these and assessing the impacts achieved is more difficult than in the case of actions relating to manure management. This action plan and the measures included in it aim to reduce ammonia emissions from agriculture in a way that the emissions from agricultural sources would meet the obligation set for to the year 2020. The action plan was prepared in cooperation between the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and Ministry of the Environment. The relevant stakeholders were heard during the process