16 January 2015: A team of 18 researchers has published findings that human activity has now moved the Earth beyond four of the nine planetary boundaries identified by scientists in 2009. The transgressed boundaries are: climate change; loss of biosphere integrity; land-system change; and altered biogeochemical cycles (phosphorus and nitrogen). The team’s paper was published in Science on 16 January 2015.

According to the authors, crossing a boundary increases the likelihood that the Earth system will take on a less “hospitable state,” thus threatening human well-being and advances against poverty. The remaining five boundaries are: stratospheric ozone depletion; ocean acidification; freshwater use; atmospheric aerosol loading; and introduction of novel entities, such as organic pollutants, radioactive materials, nanomaterials and micro-plastics.

Researchers from the Stockholm Resilience Centre were among the paper’s authors. The Centre explains that the nine boundaries, when taken together, represent the processes and systems that govern the interactions of ocean, land and atmosphere, upon which human life depends. The researchers emphasize that, though four boundaries have already been crossed, two of which are “core boundaries” representing higher likelihood of driving Earth into a new state, the news is not all bad. They highlight the utility of this knowledge for informing policy and point to the opportunity countries have in September 2015, as they agree on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The scientists are presenting the paper at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on 21-24 January 2015. [UNFCCC Press Release] [Stockholm Resilience Centre Press Release]