A SAFE OPERATING SPACE FOR HUMANITY

Johan Rockström et al

A SAFE OPERATING SPACE FOR HUMANITY

Betina Campos VenceTomas Robles CastañoValentina Pinto CardenasValentina Garavito ArévaloMery Iovanna Peña FontechaPablo Miguel Sanabria ValenciaMaría Angélica Veloza Moncada

Grupo 1 : IN - Filtrados

Creatividad y empoderamiento con impacto social

06. Delicate balance

05. Nitrogen & Fosforous cycles

04. Rate of biodiversity loss

03. Climate change

02. Planetary boundaries

01. Introduction

Index

Illustration 2: Industrial Revolution

Illustration 1: Holocene Period

INTRODUCTION

Since the industrial revolution, human actions have become the main driver of global environmental change.

• Rapidly growing reliance on fossil fuels

• Industrialized forms of agriculture

ANTHROPOCENE

Planet´s environment has been unusually stable for the past 10.000 years.

• Regular temperatures

• Freshwater availability

• Biogeochemical flows

HOLOCENE

intro

Johan Rockstrom and colleagues

"Identifying and quantifying planetary boundaries that must not be transgressed could help prevent human activities from causing unnaceptable environmental change."

Quote

Illustration 3: Planetary Boundaries

PLANETARY BOUNDARIES

Illustration 4: Planetary boundaries

These boundaries define the safe operating space for humanity with respect to the Earth system and are associated with the planet´s biophysical subsystems or processes.

PLANETARY BOUNDARIES

Ocean acidificationGlobal mean saturation state of aragonite in surface sea waterProposed boundary: 2.75Current state: 2.90Pre - industrial value: 3.44

Stratospheric ozone depletionConcentration of ozoneProposed boundary: 276Current state: 283Pre - industrial value: 290

Global freshwater useConsumption of freshwater by humansProposed boundary: 4.000Current state: 2.600Pre - industrial value: 415

Change in land use% of global land cover converted to croplandProposed boundary: 15Current state: 11.7Pre - industrial value: LOW

Atmospheric aerosol loadingOverall particulate concentration in the atmosphereNot yet quantified

Quemical pollutionConcentration of persistant organic pollutants, plastics, endocrine disrupters, heavy metals and nuclear wasteNot yet quantified

Planetary Boundaries

CLIMATE CHANGE

01

Illustration 5: Climate change

Pre - industrial value

Current Status

1.5

Proposed boundary

Pre - industrial value

280

Current Status

387

Proposed boundary

350

Planetary Boundaries

Change in radiative forcing

Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration

CLIMATE CHANGE

Planetary Boundaries

RATE OF BIODIVERSITY LOSS

02

Illustration 6: Rate of biodiversity loss

Up to

of all mammal, bird and amphibian species will be threatened with extinction this century.

30%

*More research is required to pin down this boundary with greater certainty.

Pre - industrial value

0.1 - 1

Current Status

>100

Proposed boundary

10

Planetary Boundaries

Extinction rate (number of species per million species per year)

RATE OF BIODIVERSITY LOSS

Planetary Boundaries

NITROGEN & FOSFOROUS CYCLES

03

Illustration 7: Nitrogen and phosphorus cycles

Pre - industrial value

-1

Current Status

8.5 - 9.5

Proposed boundary

11

Pre - industrial value

Current Status

121

Proposed boundary

35

Planetary Boundaries

Quantity of P flowing into the oceans

Amount of N2 removed from the atmosphere for human use

NITROGEN & PHOSPHORUS CYCLES

DELICATE BALANCE

03

BRANCH

Research into resilience.

02

BRANCH

The work on understanding essential Earth processes including human actions.

01

BRANCH

The scale of human action in relation to the capacity of earth to sustain it.

3 Branches of scientific inquiry

Johan Rockstrom and colleagues

"The evidence so far suggests that, as long as the thresholds are not crossed, humanity has the freedom to pursue long- term social and economic development."

Quote

• First boundaries are being established and general awareness is being established.

• Even though the paper is well structured, there is still a lack of information and evidence on the proposed boundaries.

Argumento crìtico

GRACIAS

Rockström, Johan, et al. "A safe operating space for humanity." Nature 461.7263 (2009): 472.

Referencias