Planetary Boundaries That Define a “Safe Operating Space” for Humanity

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Planetary Boundaries That Define a “Safe Operating Space” for Humanity GlobalInternational Geosphere-Biosphere Programme ChangeIssue 74 ❚ Winter 2009 Global CO2 budget Planetary Variations and trends A vision for 2050 The future could boundarIes be bright Nine identified Cimate-change index A new tool for the Three crossed public and policymakers www.igbp.net Earth-system science for a sustainable planet Contents Global Change Issue 74 Winter 2009 regulars Cover image Maintaining the long-term environmental stability of the Holocene, some 3 Editorial experts suggest, will require respecting nine interlinked planetary boundaries that define a “safe operating space” for humanity. As the dials on the image 4 IGBP News depict, we have already overstepped three of the boundaries. 10 Global Change News cover story 8 A planet on the edge What are the key boundaries that have kept our planet’s climate stable for 11,000 years? 14 FeatuRES 14 Climate change in a nutshell Can the complexities of the Earth system be condensed down to a single number like the FTSE or Dow Jones indices? 16 A vision for our planet By 2050, everyone will have access to adequate food, clothing, housing, and clean water. This is the dream. Read how to make 36 it a reality. 8 20 Tracking China’s urban emissions A first estimate of China’s urban energy use. 24 Have we reached peak CO2? If CO2 is seen as a non-renewable resource, then the answer is yes. 28 Closing the global budget for CO2 The global financial crisis probably explains the modest 2% growth in emissions in 2008 compared with 2007. 20 32 Where sinking land meets rising water Five hundred million people call deltas their home. Their home is sinking. 36 Climate services for all? The World Climate Conference laid out a framework for climate services on the time and space scales needed by society. Will it deliver? Welcome to global Change, the new magazine from the International 40 Getting a handle on ecosystem services geosphere-Biosphere Programme. global Change is based on our Identifying and valuing ecosystem services has proved difficult. old newsletter, which has had a long and successful history. With the Here land-use scientists discuss new ways of valuing land. new magazine, we want to broaden our appeal and reach a wider audience. It will be distributed to researchers, policymakers, funders, journalists, pressure groups and others. global Change primarily publishes articles If you have an idea for a feature article or reporting science from within the extensive news, email Science Editor Ninad Bondre This first issue is timed to coincide with the Copenhagen climate IgBP network. [email protected] talks: many of the articles focus on recent carbon-cycle research. Of Published by: course, IgBP research goes much wider than climate change, and this IgBP Secretariat, Box 50005, SE-104 05, Editor: Ninad Bondre Stockholm, SWEDEN [email protected] will be reported in coming issues. We sincerely hope that you enjoy To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your Director of Communications: Owen gaffney our magazine, and we look forward to your feedback. details email: [email protected] [email protected] Printed by Bergs grafiska, Sweden graphic designer: Hilarie Cutler owen Gaffney ISSN 0284-5865 [email protected] director of Communications Circulation: 10, 000 copies [email protected] 2 ❚ Global Change ❚ Issue 74 ❚ Winter 2009 editorial sybil seitzinger, executive director, IGbP LL attention is vironmental change. on Copenha- In the last 20 years, Agen. The basis IGBP scientists have of the talks are, of demonstrated that course, the Inter- humans are the main governmental Panel driver of global en- on Climate Change vironmental change. (IPCC) assessments Is there an ad- and the UN’s Subsidi- equate system, like ary Body for Scientific IPCC, to assess the and Technological state of knowledge Advice. We are asked of all of the planet’s to supply our lat- key natural cycles, est research findings to both processes. how they are linked and how society IPCC and IGBP began just over 20 is affecting them? Key areas in need years ago. Since then, climate has of synthesis include the global nitro- moved close to the top of the interna- gen cycle, megacities and the coastal tional political agenda and IPCC has zone, environmental change and the adapted to meet the needs of govern- needs of least developed nations, land ments. Indeed, IPCC is now seen as a cover and climate, aerosols and others. gold standard for evidence-based policy. IGBP’s new integration, synthesis The Swedish researcher, Bert Bolin, a and exploration initiative (page 5), ini- key architect of both IPCC and IGBP, set tially in ten policy-relevant areas, aims up programmes like IGBP and the World to bring together many disciplines Climate Research Programme to coordi- in a truly integrated way to reduce nate research internationally, and IPCC uncertainty in the areas highlighted to assess it. But, IGBP was established above. This, we hope, will contribute in recognition that climate change is to a baseline for international research part of a larger challenge – global en- and policy in the coming decade. ❚ Is there an adequate system to assess the state of knowledge of all key “natural cycles? Global Change ❚ Issue 74 ❚ Winter 2009 ❚ 3 IGbP news Global nitrogen AssEssment needEd urgently HUmanity’S colossal effect “But our understanding of on the global carbon cycle the nitrogen cycle in rela- grabs all the headlines. In tion to climate is poor. We many ways, our effect on the are not even sure if nitrogen global nitrogen cycle is as big fertilisation leads to long- if not bigger. Now scientists term carbon sequestration in say nitrogen management on forests,” says Erisman, who a global scale is essential if we is based at the Netherland’s Humans have radically altered the global nitrogen cycle. are serious about curbing cli- Energy Research Centre. Credit: Istockphoto mate change. This is the mes- During the last few decades, production. sored by IGBP, the US State sage from the International the global increase in reactive All predictions are that Department, the UK’s Depart- Nitrogen Initiative’s (INI) side nitrogen from human sources changing diets towards more ment for Environment, Food event at COP-15 in December. – largely fertiliser manufac- meat and food production and Rural Affairs, the Dutch Event co-organiser Professor ture – has far outstripped particularly in developing ministry of the Environment, Jan Willem Erisman says, “Ni- natural production, on land countries will lead to more Housing and Spatial Plan- trogen has effects other than at least. Since the 1960s, the reactive nitrogen in circula- ning and others, highlights climate: biodiversity loss, rate of increase has acceler- tion. But the nitrogen cycle is the urgent need for a global human health, ecosystem ated sharply and since the yet to be adequately brought nitrogen assessment. eutrophication and water 1980s the anthropogenic into climate models. INI is co-sponsored by IGBP. pollution for example.” production exceeded natural The INI side event, spon- www.initrogen.org What might have led to the interglacial variability? Initial On the move findings seem to implicate IGbP seCretarIat changes in parameters such as NinaD Bondre joined IGBP the atmospheric concentrations as science editor in october. of carbon dioxide. For exam- Until recently, ninad was ple, interglacials prior to about based in london as an associ- 400,000 years ago, which were ate editor of Nature Geoscience. generally cooler as compared to he replaces suzanne nash, those occurring later, were char- who was IGBP's interim infor- acterised by lower atmospheric mation officer. carbon dioxide levels. The maximum sea level dur- From 1 January 2010 ing the penultimate interglacial IGbP scientific Committee Between ice ages Researchers led by chronis was several metres higher than members The oscIllaTIon between Tzedakis of the University of that today, and has been linked Incoming: Ray Bradley and ice ages and interglacials, the leeds, UK surveyed recent to melting of the Greenland Jean Palutikof relatively warm intervals of progress in understanding and antarctic ice sheets. This Outgoing: Mark stafford smith time separating ice ages, has interglacials. The group, part scenario is rather similar to that and steven Running been a persistent feature of of IGBP’s Past Global changes predicted to occur during the earth’s climate since about project, compiled existing coming centuries, as atmos- IGbP project’s scientific steering Committee chairs three million years ago. palaeoclimate data – such as pheric CO2 concentrations Ice core records dating ice volume inferred from the peak. so, a better handle on the Incoming: IGac co-chair back 800,000 years show how oxygen isotopic composition controls on past interglacials Paul Monks interglacials differed widely in recorded by an ice core from may hold the key to predicting Outgoing: Kathy law terms of their duration as well antarctica – to record the char- how exactly the most recent as climate. Given that intergla- acteristics of interglacials. interglacial that we are living Incoming: IleaPs co-chair cials are broadly governed by “The occurrence of intergla- in will respond to the impact of Markku Kulmala predictable cyclical changes cials with differing characteris- humans. Outgoing: Meinrat andreae in astronomical variables such tics is an intriguing aspect of the Tzedakis P c, Raynaud D, as the tilt of earth’s rotational ice ages that raises fundamental McManus J F, Berger a, Brovkin Incoming: IMBeR chair axis, a mystery remains as to questions about the earth’s V, Kiefer T (2009) Nature Geo- eileen hoffman the cause of this variability. climate”, say the researchers. science, 2:751-755. Outgoing: Julie hall 4 ❚ Global Change ❚ Issue 74 ❚ Winter 2009 Ocean acidification colleagues, which summarises among the principles summary published key scientific results and the identified at the workshop is to scIenTIsTs are calling for a outcome of the discussions.
Recommended publications
  • Planetary Quotas and the Planetary Accounting Framework Comparing Human Activity to Global Environmental Limits
    School of Design and Built Environment Curtin University Sustainability Policy (CUSP) Institute Planetary Quotas and the Planetary Accounting Framework Comparing Human Activity to Global Environmental Limits Katherine Meyer This thesis is presented for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy of Curtin University November 2018 i DECLARATION To the best of my knowledge and belief this thesis contains no material previously published by any other person except where due acknowledgment has been made. This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university. Signature: …………………………………………. Date: …21st November 2018…………... ii ABSTRACT Human activity is altering environmental processes to the extent that we are at risk of changing the state of the planet from one that is hospitable to humanity to one that is potentially hostile. The Planetary Boundaries are global environmental limits derived from Earth system Science that together define the “safe operating space”. Within the Planetary Boundaries, the risk of changing the state of the planet is low but already four of the Planetary Boundaries have been transgressed. There is an urgent need to manage human impacts on the global environment so that we can return to the safe operating space. Policy makers and scientists want to use the Planetary Boundaries to manage human impacts on the environment so that we can return to the safe operating space. However, the Planetary Boundaries were not designed to be scaled or compared to human activity. There is a need to translate the Planetary Boundaries into a framework that is accessible and actionable.
    [Show full text]
  • Powering a Sustainable and Circular Economy— an Engineering Approach to Estimating Renewable Energy Potentials Within Earth System Boundaries
    energies Article Powering a Sustainable and Circular Economy— An Engineering Approach to Estimating Renewable Energy Potentials within Earth System Boundaries Harald Desing * , Rolf Widmer , Didier Beloin-Saint-Pierre and Roland Hischier and Patrick Wäger Empa – Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Lerchenfeldstrasse 5, CH-9014 St.Gallen, Switzerland; [email protected] (R.W.); [email protected] (D.B.-S.-P.); [email protected] (R.H.); [email protected] (P.W.) * Correspondence: [email protected] Received: 30 October 2019; Accepted: 4 December 2019; Published: 11 December 2019 Abstract: This study proposes a method to estimate the appropriability of renewable energy resources at the global scale, when Earth system boundaries/needs and the human demand for chemical energy are respected. The method is based on an engineering approach, i.e., uncertainties of parameters and models are considered and potentials calculated with 99% confidence. We used literature data to test our method and provide initial results for global appropriable technical potentials (ATP) that sum up to 71 TW, which is significantly larger than the current global energy demand. Consequently, there is sufficient renewable energy potentially available to increase energy access for a growing world population as well as for a development towards increasingly closed material cycles within the technosphere. Solar energy collected on the built environment (29%) and in desert areas (69%) represent the dominant part of this potential, followed in great distance by hydro (0.6%), terrestrial heat (0.4%), wind (0.35%), and biomass (0.2%). Furthermore, we propose indicators to evaluate an energy mix on different levels, from an energy mix in single products to the mix used by the global economy, against the estimated RE potentials, which allow an evaluation and consideration in the design of sustainable–circular products and systems.
    [Show full text]
  • Environmental Worldviews, Ethics, and Sustainability 25
    Environmental Worldviews, Ethics, and Sustainability 25 Biosphere 2—A Lesson in Humility C O R E C A S E S TUDY In 1991, eight scientists (four men and four women) were sealed sphere’s 25 small animal species went extinct. Before the 2-year inside Biosphere 2, a $200 million glass and steel enclosure period was up, all plant-pollinating insects went extinct, thereby designed to be a self-sustaining life-support system (Figure 25-1) dooming to extinction most of the plant species. that would add to our understanding of Biosphere 1: the earth’s Despite many problems, the facility’s waste and wastewater life-support system. were recycled. With much hard work, the Biospherians were A sealed system of interconnected domes was built in the also able to produce 80% of their food supply, despite rampant desert near Tucson, Arizona (USA). It contained artificial ecosys- weed growths, spurred by higher CO2 levels, that crowded out tems including a tropical rain forest, savanna, and desert, as well food crops. However, they suffered from persistent hunger and as lakes, streams, freshwater and saltwater wetlands, and a mini- weight loss. ocean with a coral reef. In the end, an expenditure of $200 million failed to maintain Biosphere 2 was designed to mimic the earth’s natural chemi- this life-support system for eight people for 2 years. Since 2007, cal recycling systems. Water evaporated from its ocean and other the University of Arizona has been leasing the Biosphere 2 facility aquatic systems and then condensed to provide rainfall over the for biological research and to provide environmental education tropical rain forest.
    [Show full text]
  • Jeremy Baskin, “Paradigm Dressed As Epoch: the Ideology of The
    Paradigm Dressed as Epoch: The Ideology of the Anthropocene JEREMY BASKIN School of Social and Political Sciences University of Melbourne Victoria 3010, Australia Email: [email protected] ABSTRACT The Anthropocene is a radical reconceptualisation of the relationship between humanity and nature. It posits that we have entered a new geological epoch in which the human species is now the dominant Earth-shaping force, and it is rapidly gaining traction in both the natural and social sciences. This article critically explores the scientific representation of the concept and argues that the Anthropocene is less a scientific concept than the ideational underpinning for a particular worldview. It is paradigm dressed as epoch. In particular, it normalises a certain portion of humanity as the ‘human’ of the Anthropocene, reinserting ‘man’ into nature only to re-elevate ‘him’ above it. This move pro- motes instrumental reason. It implies that humanity and its planet are in an exceptional state, explicitly invoking the idea of planetary management and legitimising major interventions into the workings of the earth, such as geoen- gineering. I conclude that the scientific origins of the term have diminished its radical potential, and ask whether the concept’s radical core can be retrieved. KEYWORDS Anthropocene, ideology, geoengineering, environmental politics, earth management INTRODUCTION ‘The Anthropocene’ is an emergent idea, which posits that the human spe- cies is now the dominant Earth-shaping force. Initially promoted by scholars from the physical and earth sciences, it argues that we have exited the current geological epoch, the 12,000-year-old Holocene, and entered a new epoch, Environmental Values 24 (2015): 9–29.
    [Show full text]
  • Four of Nine 'Planetary Boundaries' Exceeded
    Four of nine ‘planetary boundaries’ exceeded Civilisation has crossed four of nine ‘planetary boundaries’, increasing the risk of irreversibly driving the Earth in to a less hospitable state, concludes new research. These are: extinction rate, deforestation, atmospheric CO2 and the flow of nitrogen and phosphorus. 16 April 2015 Issue 410 Planetary boundaries are scientifically based levels of human pressure on critical global Subscribe to free processes that could create irreversible and abrupt change to the ‘Earth System’ — the weekly News Alert complex interaction of atmosphere, ice caps, sea, land and biota. These boundaries were first identified and put forward by scientists in 2009. They help decision makers by defining Source: Steffen, W., Richardson, K., Rockström, a safe operating space for humanity. J., Cornell, S.E., Fetzer, I., Crossing planetary boundaries increases the risk of moving the Earth System to a state Bennett, E.M., Biggs, R., much less hospitable for human civilisation than the one in which we have flourished in over Carpenter, S.R., de Vries, the past 11 000 years (the ‘Holocene epoch’). W., de Wit, C.A., Folke, C., Gerten, D., Heinke, J., Planetary boundaries represent a precautionary approach, based on maintaining a Holocene- Mace, G.M., Persson, L.M., like state of the Earth System. Beyond each boundary is a ‘zone of uncertainty’, where there Ramanathan, V., Reyers, is an increased risk of outcomes that are damaging to human wellbeing. Taken together the B., & Sörlin, S. (2015). boundaries define a safe operating space for humanity. Approaching a boundary provides a Planetary boundaries: warning signal to decision makers, indicating that we are approaching a problem while Guiding human allowing time for corrective action before it is too late.
    [Show full text]
  • Our Common Future
    Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future Table of Contents Acronyms and Note on Terminology Chairman's Foreword From One Earth to One World Part I. Common Concerns 1. A Threatened Future I. Symptoms and Causes II. New Approaches to Environment and Development 2. Towards Sustainable Development I. The Concept of Sustainable Development II. Equity and the Common Interest III. Strategic Imperatives IV. Conclusion 3. The Role of the International Economy I. The International Economy, the Environment, and Development II. Decline in the 1980s III. Enabling Sustainable Development IV. A Sustainable World Economy Part II. Common Challenges 4. Population and Human Resources I. The Links with Environment and Development II. The Population Perspective III. A Policy Framework 5. Food Security: Sustaining the Potential I. Achievements II. Signs of Crisis III. The Challenge IV. Strategies for Sustainable Food Security V. Food for the Future 6. Species and Ecosystems: Resources for Development I. The Problem: Character and Extent II. Extinction Patterns and Trends III. Some Causes of Extinction IV. Economic Values at Stake V. New Approach: Anticipate and Prevent VI. International Action for National Species VII. Scope for National Action VIII. The Need for Action 7. Energy: Choices for Environment and Development I. Energy, Economy, and Environment II. Fossil Fuels: The Continuing Dilemma III. Nuclear Energy: Unsolved Problems IV. Wood Fuels: The Vanishing Resource V. Renewable Energy: The Untapped Potential VI. Energy Efficiency: Maintaining the Momentum VII. Energy Conservation Measures VIII. Conclusion 8. Industry: Producing More With Less I. Industrial Growth and its Impact II. Sustainable Industrial Development in a Global Context III.
    [Show full text]
  • Governing Planetary Boundaries: Limiting Or Enabling Conditions for Transitions Towards Sustainability?
    Chapter 5 Governing Planetary Boundaries: Limiting or Enabling Conditions for Transitions Towards Sustainability? Falk Schmidt Abstract It seems intuitive to identify boundaries of an earth system which is increasingly threatened by human activities. Being aware of and hence studying boundaries may be necessary for effective governance of sustainable development. Can the planetary boundaries function as useful ‘warning signs’ in this respect? The answer presented in the article is: yes; but. It is argued that these boundaries cannot be described exclusively by scientific knowledge-claims. They have to be identified by science-society or transdisciplinary deliberations. The discussion of governance challenges related to the concept concludes with two main recommendations: to better institutionalise integrative transdisciplinary assessment processes along the lines of the interconnected nature of the planetary boundaries, and to foster cross- sectoral linkages in order to institutionalise more integrative and yet context sensitive governance arrangements. These insights are briefly confronted with options for institutional reform in the context of the Rio + 20 process. If humankind will not manage a transition towards sustainability, its ‘safe operating space’ continues shrinking. Governance arrangements for such ‘systems at risk’ may then be, first, more ‘forceful’ and, second, may run counter to our understanding of ‘open societies’. It is not very realistic that the world is prepared to achieve the first, and it is not desirable to get the effects of the latter. Scholars and practitioners of sustainability may find this a convincing argument to act now. 5.1 Targets The two-degree target concerning climate change has been vigorously debated during the run-up to and the aftermath of the Copenhagen Climate Conference COP 15 (WBGU 2009; Berkhout 2010; Geden 2010; Hulme 2010a; Jaeger and F.
    [Show full text]
  • Eolss Sample Chapters
    JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION – Vol. II - Sustainability - Stephen Viederman SUSTAINABILITY Stephen Viederman Former President, Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation, New York, USA Keywords: Sustainability, sustainable development, equity, justice, environment, conventional economics, democracy, public participation, vision, social construct, ‘rules of the game’, multinational corporations, population, consumption. Contents 1. Introduction 2. What is Sustainability? 2.1 Sustainability is a Social Construct 2.2 Sustainability is a Vision of a Desired Future 2.3 Sustainability is a Process With a Beginning But No End 2.4 Sustainability is Qualified By Context and is Location Specific 2.5 Sustainability is About the Ecosystem and its Interrelationships With Other Subsystems 3. Sustainability: A Definition 4. Barriers to Sustainability 4.1 The Capacity to Envision the Future 4.2 The “Rules of the Game” 5. Issues 5.1 Sustainability and the Multinational Corporation 5.2 Dimensions of Sustainable Development 5.3 Population, Consumption, and Sustainability 6. Conclusion Bibliography Biographical Sketch Summary Sustainability has become reified, as if one day society was unsustainable and the next day it becomes sustainable. In reality, sustainability is about a participatory process with a beginning and no end, a vision of the future, an ideal, a goal. It is a social construct that is UNESCOunattainable by definition, because – understanding EOLSS of the goal and definition of the vision will change with time. Much of the discussion of sustainability has been focused on environmental or ecological sustainability with little attention to the human dimension. WhileSAMPLE it is true that the environment CHAPTERS is the basis for all life and all production, in fact, in the absence of attention to issues of equity and justice, the environment cannot be sustained.
    [Show full text]
  • 3 Scenario 1: Earth Charter This Is a World in Which Humans Have A
    Scenario 1: Earth Charter This is a world in which humans have a respect for all life. People understand themselves as part of an integrated biosphere and focus on finding balance and harmony with each other and nature and focus on nurturing a thriving and healthy world. With expanding equity and inclusion, a broadening of the definition of knowledge and science leads to extreme new insights and advancements in a highly interconnected and richly diverse world. There is a porous boundary between human focus and non-human focus as people honor all species’ labor and space. Conservancy in interconnected systems and infrastructure become so efficient that “waste” is no longer a common term in language. Data are collected, monitored, and analyzed to ensure interspecies equity. The result is species return to pre-human levels as the human population stabilizes. Technology and advancements combined with the inclusion of art and expression have led to the development of new approaches to learning and the delivery of knowledge that are increasingly adaptive, personalized and driven by the student. Institutional models of education are obsolete as education is no longer measured by degree but by knowing, adaptiveness, creativity, continuity of learning and freedom of thought and expression. Universal access to learning and education leads to broad societal agency and empowerment. The public has a great acceptance of science with an acknowledgement that science must integrate with other world views that ecumenically bridges all faith traditions. Current Drivers and Trends Signaling the Potential of this Scenario The progressive and global orientation and activism of youth combines with the growing climate justice movement to create an unprecedented and sustained societal shift toward a new understanding of humans as part of a complex and vulnerable living system and environment.
    [Show full text]
  • Ecological Modernisation and Its Discontents Project Associate Professor, Graduate School of Public Policy, the University of Tokyo Roberto Orsi
    IFI-SDGs Unit Working Paper No.1 Roberto Orsi, March 2021 UTokyo, Institute for Future Initiatives (IFI), SDGs Collaborative Research Unit JSPS Grant Research Project “The nexus of international politics in climate change and water resource, from the perspective of security studies and SDGs” FY2020 Working Paper Series No. 1 Ecological Modernisation and its Discontents Project Associate Professor, Graduate School of Public Policy, The University of Tokyo Roberto Orsi This working paper sketches the relations between Ecological Modernisation and the main lines of critique which have been moved against it. The paper offers a summary of Ecological Modernisation, its origin and overall trajectory, while touching upon the various counterarguments which ecological sociologists and other scholars have formulated in the past decades, from three different directions: political ecology, eco-Marxism (or post-Marxism), and constructivism/post-modernism. 1. What is Ecological Modernisation and Why Does It Matter? Defining Ecological Modernisation (henceforth: EM) is not an entirely straightforward task. Over the course of the past three decades, different authors have provided slightly but significantly different definitions. One of EM’s most prominent exponents, Arthur P.J. Mol, explicitly refers to EM as a “theory”, defining “[t]he notion of ecological modernization […] as the social scientific interpretation of environmental reform processes at multiple scales in the contemporary world. [...] ecological modernization studies reflect on how various institutions and social actors attempt to integrate environmental concerns into their everyday functioning, development, and relations with others and the natural world”. (Mol et al. 2014:15). The term “theory” is deployed by other authors, but it does not go uncontested.
    [Show full text]
  • Carrying Capacity a Discussion Paper for the Year of RIO+20
    UNEP Global Environmental Alert Service (GEAS) Taking the pulse of the planet; connecting science with policy Website: www.unep.org/geas E-mail: [email protected] June 2012 Home Subscribe Archive Contact “Earthrise” taken on 24 December 1968 by Apollo astronauts. NASA Thematic Focus: Environmental Governance, Resource Efficiency One Planet, How Many People? A Review of Earth’s Carrying Capacity A discussion paper for the year of RIO+20 We travel together, passengers on a little The size of Earth is enormous from the perspective spaceship, dependent on its vulnerable reserves of a single individual. Standing at the edge of an ocean of air and soil; all committed, for our safety, to its or the top of a mountain, looking across the vast security and peace; preserved from annihilation expanse of Earth’s water, forests, grasslands, lakes or only by the care, the work and the love we give our deserts, it is hard to conceive of limits to the planet’s fragile craft. We cannot maintain it half fortunate, natural resources. But we are not a single person; we half miserable, half confident, half despairing, half are now seven billion people and we are adding one slave — to the ancient enemies of man — half free million more people roughly every 4.8 days (2). Before in a liberation of resources undreamed of until this 1950 no one on Earth had lived through a doubling day. No craft, no crew can travel safely with such of the human population but now some people have vast contradictions. On their resolution depends experienced a tripling in their lifetime (3).
    [Show full text]
  • “Living Well, Within the Limits of Our Planet”? Measuring Europe's
    SEI - Africa Institute of Resource Assessment University of Dar es Salaam P. O. Box 35097, Dar es Salaam Tanzania Tel: +255-(0)766079061 SEI - Asia 15th Floor, Witthyakit Building 254 Chulalongkorn University Chulalongkorn Soi 64 Phyathai Road, Pathumwan Bangkok 10330 Thailand Tel+(66) 22514415 Stockholm Environment Institute, Working Paper 2014-05 SEI - Oxford Suite 193 266 Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 7DL UK Tel+44 1865 426316 SEI - Stockholm Kräftriket 2B SE -106 91 Stockholm Sweden Tel+46 8 674 7070 SEI - Tallinn Lai 34, Box 160 EE-10502, Tallinn Estonia Tel+372 6 276 100 SEI - U.S. 11 Curtis Avenue Somerville, MA 02144 USA Tel+1 617 627-3786 SEI - York University of York Heslington York YO10 5DD UK Tel+44 1904 43 2897 The Stockholm Environment Institute “Living well, within the limits of our planet”? SEI is an independent, international research institute. It has been Measuring Europe’s growing external footprint engaged in environment and development issues at local, national, regional and global policy levels for more than a quarter of a century. SEI supports decision making for sustainable development by Holger Hoff, Björn Nykvist and Marcus Carson bridging science and policy. sei-international.org Stockholm Environment Institute Linnégatan 87D, Box 24218 104 51 Stockholm Sweden Tel: +46 8 674 7070 Fax: +46 8 674 7020 Web: www.sei-international.org Author contact: Holger Hoff, [email protected] Director of Communications: Robert Watt Editor: Caspar Trimmer Cover photos (clockwise from top): Normandy countryside © Hetx/flickr; Soy harvest- ing, Brazil © Reuters/Paulo Whitaker; Container port © Robert Pratt/flickr; Ship break- ing, Bangladesh © Naquib Hossain/flickr The title of this report refers to the title of the new EU Environment Action Pro- gramme, adopted in 2013: “Living Well within the Limits of Our Planet”.
    [Show full text]