EPMAN is the Expert Panel on Mitigating Agricultural Nitrogen, set up under the Task Force on Reactive Nitrogen. This panel will develop the work previously covered by the former Ammonia Expert Group, reflecting the request from the Executive Body of the Convention. The immediate tasks are:
- To prepare a basis for updating the code of good practice (document EB.AIR/WG.5/2001/7) for reducing ammonia emissions
- To review the Guidance document on reducing ammonia emissions (document ECE/EB.AIR/WG.5/2007/13), especially in the light of other nitrogen interactions (e.g. N2O, nitrate interactions etc)
- To prepare options to form a basis for discussion on revision of Annex IX of the Gothenburg Protocol (this link is for Annex IX only). These options (of varying ambition) would then be presented to the Working Group on Strategies and Review (WGSR) for their consideration and feedback. [The whole Gothenburg Protocol document can be downloaded from this link]
In the longer term, the group will further develop work on a wider intergrated approach to mitigating nitrogen losses from agriculture, in particular relating transboundary air pollution to the other threat issues.
We are very grateful that Canada, the Czech Republic and Austria, who currently support Shabtai Bittman, Martin Dedina and Barbara Amon as co-chairs of this Expert Panel.
If you are interested in getting involved inthe work of EPMAN, please contact trfn@ceh.ac.uk to register your interest.
Guidance Document
The members of EPMAN have updated the Guidance Document, and it has now been adopted by the Executive Body of the LRTAP Convention. A hardcopy version 'Options for ammonia abatement: Guidance from the UNECE Task Force on Reactive Nitrogen' has recently been published by the Task Force and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and can be downloaded here.
EPMAN Meetings:
- EPMAN-7: This was held alongside the TFRN-9 meeting, in Madrid, 2014.
- EPMAN-6: The sixth meeting of the panel was held in Copenhagen in May 2013.
- Meetings in Berlin, Sep 2012: An informal meeting of EPMAN occured on the 27th September, where work on the Framework Code was discussed. A summary of the meeting can be found here.
- A joint meeting (EPMAN and the Agriculture and Nature Panel of the Task Force on Emissions Inventories and Projections) was held to discuss guidebook methodologies and mitigation techniques in Berlin, Germany, 28th September 2012. A summary of the meeting can be found here.
- EPMAN-5: this meeting was held in St Petersburg, Russia on the 28th February, 2012. The documents from this meeting will be posted soon.
- EPMAN-4: the fourth meeting was held in Rome, May 10th, 2011. The documents from this meeting will be posted soon.
- EPMAN-3: this meeting was held in Dublin, 24th-25th September 2009 and discussed options for the revision of the Gothenburg Protocol and supporting documents, in preparation for their adoption by the Task Force at their next meeting (24th-25th Nov 2009).
- EPMAN-2: The second meeting of the Expert Panel was held on the 27th April 2009, the day before the second Task Force Meeting (28th-29th April) at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
- EPMAN-1: The panel held its first meeting on the 12th November, in Milan, after the TFEIP meeting (10th-11th November).