Poor versus rich

Phosphate flows at the global level are not in equilibrium. For example, a large number of crops are cultivated in Africa and South America and are then shipped to Europe and America in order to be consumed there. However, this means that the nutrients (and the phosphate in particular) are moving to the richer countries in the world. The consequence is that the soil in the poorer countries is suffering from an ever greater shortage of phosphate, while the phosphate in e.g. European countries is accumulating in the soil and water, which causes problems there. Read more about this under the button When will the phosphate run out?