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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ftunivlouvain:oai:dial.uclouvain.be:boreal:72015 2024-05-19T07:46:40+00:00 Planetary Boundaries: Exploring the Safe Operating Space for Humanity Rockstrom, J. Lambin, Eric UCL - SC/GEO - Département de géologie et de géographie 2009 http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/72015 eng eng boreal:72015 http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/72015 urn:ISSN:1708-3087 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Ecology and Society : a journal of integrative science for resilience and sustainability, Vol. 14, no. 2, p. 32 (2009) 1400 info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2009 ftunivlouvain 2024-04-24T01:45:57Z 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 DIAL@UCLouvain (Université catholique de Louvain) |
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DIAL@UCLouvain (Université catholique de Louvain) |
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language |
English |
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1400 Rockstrom, J. Lambin, Eric Planetary Boundaries: Exploring the Safe Operating Space for Humanity |
topic_facet |
1400 |
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 ... |
author2 |
UCL - SC/GEO - Département de géologie et de géographie |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Rockstrom, J. Lambin, Eric |
author_facet |
Rockstrom, J. Lambin, Eric |
author_sort |
Rockstrom, J. |
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 |
publishDate |
2009 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/72015 |
genre |
Ocean acidification |
genre_facet |
Ocean acidification |
op_source |
Ecology and Society : a journal of integrative science for resilience and sustainability, Vol. 14, no. 2, p. 32 (2009) |
op_relation |
boreal:72015 http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/72015 urn:ISSN:1708-3087 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
_version_ |
1799486891469307904 |