Planetary boundaries: exploring the safe operating space for humanity
Anthropogenic pressures on the Earth System have reached a scale where abrupt global environmental change can no longer be excluded. We propose a new approach to global sustainability in which we define planetary boundaries within which we expect that humanity can operate safely. Transgressing one o...
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ftjamescook:oai:researchonline.jcu.edu.au:11008 2024-02-11T10:07:37+01:00 Planetary boundaries: exploring the safe operating space for humanity Rockstrom, Johan Steffen, Will Noone, Kevin Persson, Asa Chapin, F. Stuart III Lambin, Eric Lenton, Timothy M. Scheffer, Marten Folke, Carl Schellnhuber, Hans Joachim Nykvist, Björn de Wit, Cynthia A. Hughes, Terry van der Leeuw, Sander Rodhe, Henning Sörlin, Sverker Snyder, Peter K. Costanza, Robert Svedin, Uno Falkenmark, Malin Karlberg, Louise Corell, Robert W. Fabry, Victoria J. Hansen, James Walker, Brian Liverman, Diana Richardson, Katherine Crutzen, Paul Foley, Jonathan 2009-09-24 application/pdf https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/11008/1/ES-2009-3180.pdf unknown Resilience Alliance Publications http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol14/iss2/art32/ https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/11008/ https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/11008/1/ES-2009-3180.pdf Rockstrom, Johan, Steffen, Will, Noone, Kevin, Persson, Asa, Chapin, F. Stuart III, Lambin, Eric, Lenton, Timothy M., Scheffer, Marten, Folke, Carl, Schellnhuber, Hans Joachim, Nykvist, Björn, de Wit, Cynthia A., Hughes, Terry, van der Leeuw, Sander, Rodhe, Henning, Sörlin, Sverker, Snyder, Peter K., Costanza, Robert, Svedin, Uno, Falkenmark, Malin, Karlberg, Louise, Corell, Robert W., Fabry, Victoria J., Hansen, James, Walker, Brian, Liverman, Diana, Richardson, Katherine, Crutzen, Paul, and Foley, Jonathan (2009) Planetary boundaries: exploring the safe operating space for humanity. Ecology and Society, 14 (2). pp. 1-33. openpub Article PeerReviewed 2009 ftjamescook 2024-01-22T23:25:37Z Anthropogenic pressures on the Earth System have reached a scale where abrupt global environmental change can no longer be excluded. We propose a new approach to global sustainability in which we define planetary boundaries within which we expect that humanity can operate safely. Transgressing one or more planetary boundaries may be deleterious or even catastrophic due to the risk of crossing thresholds that will trigger non-linear, abrupt environmental change within continental- to planetary-scale systems. We have identified nine planetary boundaries and, drawing upon current scientific understanding, we propose quantifications for seven of them. These seven are climate change (CO2 concentration in the atmosphere <350 ppm and/or a maximum change of +1 W m-2 in radiative forcing); ocean acidification (mean surface seawater saturation state with respect to aragonite ≥ 80% of pre-industrial levels); stratospheric ozone (<5% reduction in O3 concentration from pre-industrial level of 290 Dobson Units); biogeochemical nitrogen (N) cycle (limit industrial and agricultural fixation of N2 to 35 Tg N yr-1) and phosphorus (P) cycle (annual P inflow to oceans not to exceed 10 times the natural background weathering of P); global freshwater use (<4000 km3 yr-1 of consumptive use of runoff resources); land system change (<15% of the ice-free land surface under cropland); and the rate at which biological diversity is lost (annual rate of <10 extinctions per million species). The two additional planetary boundaries for which we have not yet been able to determine a boundary level are chemical pollution and atmospheric aerosol loading. We estimate that humanity has already transgressed three planetary boundaries: for climate change, rate of biodiversity loss, and changes to the global nitrogen cycle. Planetary boundaries are interdependent, because transgressing one may both shift the position of other boundaries or cause them to be transgressed. The social impacts of transgressing boundaries will be a function ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Ocean acidification James Cook University, Australia: ResearchOnline@JCU |
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Open Polar |
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James Cook University, Australia: ResearchOnline@JCU |
op_collection_id |
ftjamescook |
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unknown |
description |
Anthropogenic pressures on the Earth System have reached a scale where abrupt global environmental change can no longer be excluded. We propose a new approach to global sustainability in which we define planetary boundaries within which we expect that humanity can operate safely. Transgressing one or more planetary boundaries may be deleterious or even catastrophic due to the risk of crossing thresholds that will trigger non-linear, abrupt environmental change within continental- to planetary-scale systems. We have identified nine planetary boundaries and, drawing upon current scientific understanding, we propose quantifications for seven of them. These seven are climate change (CO2 concentration in the atmosphere <350 ppm and/or a maximum change of +1 W m-2 in radiative forcing); ocean acidification (mean surface seawater saturation state with respect to aragonite ≥ 80% of pre-industrial levels); stratospheric ozone (<5% reduction in O3 concentration from pre-industrial level of 290 Dobson Units); biogeochemical nitrogen (N) cycle (limit industrial and agricultural fixation of N2 to 35 Tg N yr-1) and phosphorus (P) cycle (annual P inflow to oceans not to exceed 10 times the natural background weathering of P); global freshwater use (<4000 km3 yr-1 of consumptive use of runoff resources); land system change (<15% of the ice-free land surface under cropland); and the rate at which biological diversity is lost (annual rate of <10 extinctions per million species). The two additional planetary boundaries for which we have not yet been able to determine a boundary level are chemical pollution and atmospheric aerosol loading. We estimate that humanity has already transgressed three planetary boundaries: for climate change, rate of biodiversity loss, and changes to the global nitrogen cycle. Planetary boundaries are interdependent, because transgressing one may both shift the position of other boundaries or cause them to be transgressed. The social impacts of transgressing boundaries will be a function ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Rockstrom, Johan Steffen, Will Noone, Kevin Persson, Asa Chapin, F. Stuart III Lambin, Eric Lenton, Timothy M. Scheffer, Marten Folke, Carl Schellnhuber, Hans Joachim Nykvist, Björn de Wit, Cynthia A. Hughes, Terry van der Leeuw, Sander Rodhe, Henning Sörlin, Sverker Snyder, Peter K. Costanza, Robert Svedin, Uno Falkenmark, Malin Karlberg, Louise Corell, Robert W. Fabry, Victoria J. Hansen, James Walker, Brian Liverman, Diana Richardson, Katherine Crutzen, Paul Foley, Jonathan |
spellingShingle |
Rockstrom, Johan Steffen, Will Noone, Kevin Persson, Asa Chapin, F. Stuart III Lambin, Eric Lenton, Timothy M. Scheffer, Marten Folke, Carl Schellnhuber, Hans Joachim Nykvist, Björn de Wit, Cynthia A. Hughes, Terry van der Leeuw, Sander Rodhe, Henning Sörlin, Sverker Snyder, Peter K. Costanza, Robert Svedin, Uno Falkenmark, Malin Karlberg, Louise Corell, Robert W. Fabry, Victoria J. Hansen, James Walker, Brian Liverman, Diana Richardson, Katherine Crutzen, Paul Foley, Jonathan Planetary boundaries: exploring the safe operating space for humanity |
author_facet |
Rockstrom, Johan Steffen, Will Noone, Kevin Persson, Asa Chapin, F. Stuart III Lambin, Eric Lenton, Timothy M. Scheffer, Marten Folke, Carl Schellnhuber, Hans Joachim Nykvist, Björn de Wit, Cynthia A. Hughes, Terry van der Leeuw, Sander Rodhe, Henning Sörlin, Sverker Snyder, Peter K. Costanza, Robert Svedin, Uno Falkenmark, Malin Karlberg, Louise Corell, Robert W. Fabry, Victoria J. Hansen, James Walker, Brian Liverman, Diana Richardson, Katherine Crutzen, Paul Foley, Jonathan |
author_sort |
Rockstrom, Johan |
title |
Planetary boundaries: exploring the safe operating space for humanity |
title_short |
Planetary boundaries: exploring the safe operating space for humanity |
title_full |
Planetary boundaries: exploring the safe operating space for humanity |
title_fullStr |
Planetary boundaries: exploring the safe operating space for humanity |
title_full_unstemmed |
Planetary boundaries: exploring the safe operating space for humanity |
title_sort |
planetary boundaries: exploring the safe operating space for humanity |
publisher |
Resilience Alliance Publications |
publishDate |
2009 |
url |
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/11008/1/ES-2009-3180.pdf |
genre |
Ocean acidification |
genre_facet |
Ocean acidification |
op_relation |
http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol14/iss2/art32/ https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/11008/ https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/11008/1/ES-2009-3180.pdf Rockstrom, Johan, Steffen, Will, Noone, Kevin, Persson, Asa, Chapin, F. Stuart III, Lambin, Eric, Lenton, Timothy M., Scheffer, Marten, Folke, Carl, Schellnhuber, Hans Joachim, Nykvist, Björn, de Wit, Cynthia A., Hughes, Terry, van der Leeuw, Sander, Rodhe, Henning, Sörlin, Sverker, Snyder, Peter K., Costanza, Robert, Svedin, Uno, Falkenmark, Malin, Karlberg, Louise, Corell, Robert W., Fabry, Victoria J., Hansen, James, Walker, Brian, Liverman, Diana, Richardson, Katherine, Crutzen, Paul, and Foley, Jonathan (2009) Planetary boundaries: exploring the safe operating space for humanity. Ecology and Society, 14 (2). pp. 1-33. |
op_rights |
openpub |
_version_ |
1790606264764465152 |