The National Workshop on the Future of Phosphorus organised by Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) http://www.isf.uts.edu.au/contact/index.html was held on 14 November 2008.
Radio program:  Western Sahara is mentioned at:  02.01.00
http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/current/audioonly/bth_20081114_1106.mp3

Phosphorus workshop
By Belinda Tromp
Friday, 14/11/2008
What’s millions of years old, but is used by farmers every day? The answer is phosphorous – an essential ingredient in fertiliser applied to food crops.

It comes from deep in the ground from mined phosphate rock that has taken more than 10 million years to form.

But scientists are alarmed that global reserves of rock phosphate are going to run out in the not-too-distant future.

Today a group of experts are meeting in Sydney to look at ways to reduce our heavy dependence on phosphate.

There is a new website: phosphorusfutures.net which provides more information on the state of global phosphorus reserves and efforts to reduce reliance on phosphorus.

In this report: Stuart White, director of the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology Sydney; Alan Richardson, research scientist, CSIRO Plant Industries.

http://www.abc.net.au/rural/telegraph/content/2006/s2419871.htm