MEDIA RELEASE PR36145
Planetary Boundaries: A Safe Operating Space for Humanity
STOCKHOLM, Sept. 24 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --
- Press release by the Stockholm Resilience Centre at Stockholm
University, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, The Australian
National University, University of Copenhagen and University of Minnesota
New approaches are needed to help humanity deal with climate change and
other global environmental threats that lie ahead in the 21st century. A
group of 28 internationally renowned scientists propose that global
biophysical boundaries, identified on the basis of the scientific
understanding of the Earth System, can define a 'safe planetary operating
space' that will allow humanity to continue to develop and thrive for
generations to come. This new approach to sustainable development is conveyed
in the coming issue of the scientific journal Nature where the scientists
have made a first attempt to identify and quantify a set of nine planetary
boundaries.
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"Human pressure on the Earth System has reached a scale where abrupt
global environmental change can no longer be excluded. To continue to live
and operate safely, humanity has to stay away from critical 'hard-wired'
thresholds in Earth's environment, and respect the nature of planet's
climatic, geophysical, atmospheric and ecological processes," says lead
author Professor Johan Rockstrom, Director of the Stockholm Resilience Centre
at Stockholm University. "Transgressing planetary boundaries may be
devastating for humanity, but if we respect them we have a bright future for
centuries ahead," he continues.
The group of scientists including Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Will
Steffen, Katherine Richardson, Jonathan Foley and Nobel Laureate Paul
Crutzen, have attempted to quantify the safe biophysical boundaries outside
which, they believe, the Earth System cannot function in a stable state, the
state in which human civilizations have thrived.
The scientists first identified the Earth System processes and potential
biophysical thresholds, which, if crossed, could generate unacceptable
environmental change for humanity. They then proposed the boundaries that
should be respected in order to reduce the risk of crossing these thresholds.
Nine boundaries were identified including climate change, stratospheric
ozone, land use change, freshwater use, biological diversity, ocean
acidification, nitrogen and phosphorus inputs to the biosphere and oceans,
aerosol loading and chemical pollution. The study suggests that three of
these boundaries (climate change, biological diversity and nitrogen input to
the biosphere) may already have been transgressed. In addition, it emphasizes
that the boundaries are strongly connected - crossing one boundary may
seriously threaten the ability to stay within safe levels of the others.
"What we now present is a novel framework through which our scientific
understanding of the Earth System can potentially be used more directly in
the societal decision making process," says co-author Katherine Richardson,
Professor at the Earth System Science Center at the University of Copenhagen.
The scientists emphasize that the rapid expansion of human activities
since the industrial revolution has now generated a global geophysical force
equivalent to some of the great forces of nature.
"We are entering the Anthropocene, a new geological era in which our
activities are threatening the Earth's capacity to regulate itself. We are
beginning to push the planet out of its current stable Holocene state, the
warm period that began about 10,000 years ago and during which agriculture
and complex societies, including our own, have developed and flourished,"
says co-author Professor Will Steffen, Director of the ANU Climate Change
Institute at The Australian National University. "The expanding human
enterprise could undermine the resilience of the Holocene state, which would
otherwise continue for thousands of years into the future."
Co-author Professor Hans Joachim Schellnhuber points out that the climate
system has clearly started to drift away from the familiar domain where
historic experiences apply. The risk of highly nonlinear changes in our
environmental conditions is sharply increasing outside that domain.
"Observations of an incipient climate transition include the rapid
retreat of summer sea ice in the Arctic Ocean, melting of almost all mountain
glaciers around the world, and an increased rate of sea-level rise in the
last 10-15 years," Professor Schellnhuber says. He is Director of the Potsdam
Institute for Climate Impact Research.
The researchers stress that their approach does not offer a complete
roadmap for sustainable development, but does provide an important element by
identifying critical planetary boundaries.
"Within these boundaries, humanity has the flexibility to choose pathways
for our future development and well-being. In essence, we are drawing the
first - albeit very preliminary - map of our planet's safe operating zones.
And beyond the edges of the map, we don't want to go. Our future research
will consider ways in which society can develop within these boundaries -
safely, sanely and sustainably," says co-author Professor Jonathan Foley,
Director of the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota.
Feature article in Nature, September 24 issue: "A safe operating space for
humanity", as well as individual commentaries and reader responses:
Full scientific article: "Planetary Boundaries: Exploring the safe
operating space for humanity", and video interviews, graphics and further
background material:
For interviews and further information, please contact:
EUROPE:
Johan Rockstrom, phone: +46-73-707-85-47,
johan.rockstrom@stockholmresilience.su.se
Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, phone: +49-331-288-2507, Email:
director@pik-potsdam.de
Katherine Richardson, phone: +45-35324285, +45-28754285, Email:
KARI@science.ku.dk
AUSTRALIA:
Will Steffen, phone: +61-404-074-593, +61-2-6125-6599, Email:
will.steffen@anu.edu.au
US:
Jonathan Foley, phone: +01-952-715-9586; Email: jfoley@umn.edu
Press contacts:
Stockholm Resilience Centre: Ellika Hermansson Torok/Sturle Hauge
Simonsen, phone: +46-73-707-85-47, +46-73-707-85-50, Email:
ellika@stockholmresilience.su.se
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research: Uta Pohlmann/Patrick
Eickemeier, phone: +49-331-288-25-07, Email: press@pik-potsdam.de
University of Copenhagen: Svend Thaning, phone: +45-35-32-42-81,
+45-28-75-4281, E-mail: svt@science.ku.dk
The Australian National University: Roz Smith, ANU Climate Change
Institute, phone: +61-2-6125-6599, +61-2-402-286-325, Email:
roz.smith@anu.edu.au
University of Minnesota: Todd Reubold, phone: +01-612-624-6140, Email:
reub0002@umn.edu
SOURCE: Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University
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