Scientists at the Stockholm Resilience Center have discovered that humans have breached six of the nine planetary “workspace” boundaries that prevent humanity from causing irreversible damage to the planet. The research was published in the journal Science Developments.
The concept of a nine-planet boundary was proposed in 2009 by a group of Earth system and environmental scientists led by the new paper’s author, Johan Rockström of the Stockholm Resilience Centre, and Will Steffen of the Australian National University. Accordingly, exceeding this or that limit, that is, disrupting the balance, threatens the welfare of humanity.
In the new study, scientists present quantitative measurements for all boundaries for the first time. It also turns out that six boundaries have already been crossed: climate change, biodiversity loss, biogeochemical changes (removal of nitrogen from the atmosphere and release of phosphorus into the oceans), global freshwater depletion, land use and chemical pollution. At the same time, the balance is being disrupted on all fronts except the deterioration of the Earth’s ozone layer.
“Exceeding the six limits does not in itself mean that disaster is coming, but it is a clear warning signal. We can treat this the same way we treat our own blood pressure. Blood pressure above 120/80 does not guarantee a heart attack, but it increases your risk of having one. That’s why we’re trying to reduce it,” the scientists explained.
The concept of nine planetary boundaries was necessary to define a safe “operating space” in which human activity could be allowed to influence critical processes without the risk of causing potentially irreversible change.
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