In the framework of the FAIE Initiative on polluting agents in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission has published an Atlas that “illustrates for the first time and in a clear way the pressure exerted by nutrients on ecosystems and their source”. Nutrients, fundamental for crops and for animal feeds, are introduced into the environment especially in the form of fertilizers, by other agro-chemical products of industry and water-treatment plants. The countries at the head of the special classification of pollution by nutrients are those in which intensive agriculture is especially developed, such as Holland, France (especially the northern regions), Belgium, Denmark, Ireland and some areas of Italy.
