Earth beyond six of nine planetary boundaries

• Published in: Science advances Vol. 9; no. 37; p. eadh2458
• Main Authors: Richardson, Katherine, Steffen, Will, Lucht, Wolfgang, Bendtsen, Jørgen, Cornell, Sarah E., Donges, Jonathan F., Drüke, Markus, Fetzer, Ingo, Bala, Govindasamy, von Bloh, Werner, Feulner, Georg, Fiedler, Stephanie, Gerten, Dieter, Gleeson, Tom, Hofmann, Matthias, Huiskamp, Willem, Kummu, Matti, Mohan, Chinchu, Nogués-Bravo, David, Petri, Stefan, Porkka, Miina, Rahmstorf, Stefan, Schaphoff, Sibyll, Thonicke, Kirsten, Tobian, Arne, Virkki, Vili, Wang-Erlandsson, Lan, Weber, Lisa, Rockström, Johan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science 15.09.2023
• Subjects: Earth, Environmental, Ecological, and Space Sciences; Environmental Studies; SciAdv r-articles
• ISSN: 2375-2548; 2375-2548
• DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adh2458

This planetary boundaries framework update finds that six of the nine boundaries are transgressed, suggesting that Earth is now well outside of the safe operating space for humanity. Ocean acidification is close to being breached, while aerosol loading regionally exceeds the boundary. Stratospheric ozone levels have slightly recovered. The transgression level has increased for all boundaries earlier identified as overstepped. As primary production drives Earth system biosphere functions, human appropriation of net primary production is proposed as a control variable for functional biosphere integrity. This boundary is also transgressed. Earth system modeling of different levels of the transgression of the climate and land system change boundaries illustrates that these anthropogenic impacts on Earth system must be considered in a systemic context. Transgression of planetary boundaries by human activities have now brought humanity well beyond a “safe operating space.”