Lecture

Planetary Boundaries: Assessing Environmental Limits

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In course

HUM-226: Wellbeing and Planetary Boundaries

Ce cours approfondit les acquis d'ENV-101 pour mieux comprendre et mettre en œuvre la durabilité : comment transformer la société vers le bien-être pour tous dans les limites écologiques, avec des approches et solutions sectorielles (énergie, bâtiments, mo ...

Description

This lecture discusses the concept of planetary boundaries, which are critical thresholds for maintaining the stability of the Earth system. The instructor explains that these boundaries were first proposed in 2009 and have been updated to quantify the processes regulating Earth's stability. The latest findings indicate that six out of nine boundaries have been transgressed, increasing the risk of abrupt environmental changes. The lecture emphasizes the interrelated nature of these boundaries, highlighting that a singular focus on climate change is insufficient for sustainability. The importance of understanding the interplay between climate change and biodiversity loss is underscored. The instructor also references key publications and illustrations that support the planetary boundaries framework, which has garnered significant interest in scientific and policy-making circles. The lecture concludes with a call for a comprehensive approach to sustainability that considers all planetary boundaries, rather than addressing them in isolation.

Instructors (2)

Sascha Nick

Philippe Thalmann

Philippe Thalmann was born in Lausanne in 1963. He graduated in Economics from the University of Lausanne in 1984, where he earned a postgraduate diploma in Economics in 1986. Mr. Thalmann entered the doctoral program in Economics of Harvard University (Cambridge, U.S.A.) in 1986, which he completed with a Ph.D. in 1990. His dissertation is entitled: "Essays in the Economics of Government Revenues and Spending". Returning to Switzerland, he was hired as an assistant professor first at the University of Geneva (teachings in Public Economics), then at the University of Lausanne (teachings in Econometrics and Introductory Economics). Since 1994, Mr. Thalmann is associate professor of Economics as the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Lausanne.

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Environmental science

Environmental studies: Topics in environmental studies

Related concepts (32)

Biodiversity loss

Biodiversity loss includes the worldwide extinction of different species, as well as the local reduction or loss of species in a certain habitat, resulting in a loss of biological diversity. The latter phenomenon can be temporary or permanent, depending on whether the environmental degradation that leads to the loss is reversible through ecological restoration/ecological resilience or effectively permanent (e.g. through land loss).

Sustainable development

Sustainable development is an organizing principle that aims to meet human development goals while also enabling natural systems to provide necessary natural resources and ecosystem services to humans. The desired result is a society where living conditions and resources meet human needs without undermining the planetary integrity and stability of the natural system. Sustainable development tries to find a balance between economic development, environmental protection, and social well-being.

Sustainability

Sustainability is a social goal for people to co-exist on Earth over a long time. Specific definitions of this term are disputed and have varied with literature, context, and time. Experts often describe sustainability as having three dimensions (or pillars): environmental, economic, and social, and many publications emphasize the environmental dimension. In everyday use, sustainability often focuses on countering major environmental problems, including climate change, loss of biodiversity, loss of ecosystem services, land degradation, and air and water pollution.

Biodiversity

Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (genetic variability), species (species diversity), and ecosystem (ecosystem diversity) level. Biodiversity is not distributed evenly on Earth; it is usually greater in the tropics as a result of the warm climate and high primary productivity in the region near the equator. Tropical forest ecosystems cover less than 10% of earth's surface and contain about 90% of the world's species.

Biodiversity banking

Biodiversity banking, also known as biodiversity trading or conservation banking, biodiversity mitigation banks, compensatory habitat, set-asides, biodiversity offsets, are conservation activities that compensate for the loss of biodiversity with the goal of biodiversity maintenance through a framework which allows biodiversity to be reliably measured, and market based solutions applied to improving biodiversity. Biodiversity banking provides a means to place a monetary value on ecosystem services.

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Explores planetary boundaries, biodiversity, and sustainability, emphasizing the impact of crossing boundaries on Earth's system.

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