Planetary boundaries and environmental tipping points:
What do they mean for sustainable development
and the global agenda? 4–5 NOVEMBER 2013 CO-CHAIRS’ SUMMARY NOTE
In 2009, a group of scientists led by Stockholm Resilience Centre (SRC)
identified and quantified a set of nine planetary boundaries within
which humanity can continue to develop and thrive for generations to
come. Green space describes safe operating space for human activity.
Three of the nine boundaries have already exceeded: biodiversity
loss, nitrogen cycle and climate change. Source: Rockström et al, 2009.
PLANETARY BOUNDARIES AND ENVIRONMENTAL TIPPING POINTS:
WHAT DO THEY MEAN FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
AND THE GLOBAL AGENDA?
INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP FOR SCIENTISTS, GOVERNMENT EXPERTS AND STAKEHOLDERS
4–5 November 2013, Geneva, Switzerland
CO-CHAIRS’ SUMMARY NOTE
Finland, in cooperation with Sweden, Norway, Denmark, UNEP and
Stockholm Resilience Centre (SRC) and with the support of the
Nordic Council of Ministers, organized an international workshop
“Planetary boundaries and environmental tipping points: What do
they mean for sustainable development and the global agenda?” on
4-5 November 2013 in Geneva, Switzerland.
This Co-Chairs’ Summary Note is not an exhaustive list of
conclusions but rather aims to summarize some of the key messages
and main discussions of the workshop. These messages will be
delivered to policy-planners and decision-makers engaged in the
development of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and
finally the global Post-2015 framework, to be adopted in 2015.
The workshop was conducted under the Chatham House Rule. The
researchers and representatives of Governments and organizations
took part in the discussions in their personal capacity.
KEY MESSAGES OF THE WORKSHOP
• Earth systems are rapidly changing. This may lead to
catastrophic regime shifts in ecosystems. There is a need
to find consensus on boundaries that define a safe and
just operating space for human development based on
a robust science. This approach is fundamentally about
reconnecting our economic and social development
to the biosphere as well as about engaging in a new
narrative of global development within the lifesupport systems of the world. The concept proposes a
precautionary approach to sustainable development.
• In order to include critical environmental issues, such
as the concept of planetary boundaries, into global
sustainable development discussions, there is a need
to maintain a holistic approach and frame the issues
in a positive way while not losing the sense of urgency.
It is important to develop tools for monitoring the
operationalization of the planetary boundaries, such
as a sustainability index, and ensure that the global
governance and institutions support decision-making
based on holistic and system-based science.
• In terms of the global agenda, we need a strategic
approach to the Post-2015 agenda which incorporates
the perspectives of environmental sustainability,
including taking the safe and just operating space
into account. The SDGs should be able to tackle also
the driving forces and the inter-linkages between the
poverty and environmental sustainability. Learning from
the experience of the MDGs, there is a need to find a
common unifying theme for the SDGs.
• The global community has already committed politically,
through Multilateral Environmental Agreements and
other international agreements, to a number of global
environmental targets including on climate change,
biodiversity, chemicals and waste management. Even
though many of the agreements and targets have
been set up under the environmental dimension, their
objectives also address other dimensions of sustainable
development such as promotion of human health,
securing ecosystem services and using the indigenous
knowledge.
• There is need to establish criteria for the SDGs in
order to ensure that the critical aspects of sustainable
development are captured in the formulation of the
goals. It would also be useful for the policy makers
to get proposals from the scientific community on
concrete entry points for the planetary boundaries in
the context of Post-2015 framework.
• We need a paradigm shift and a new development
model that focuses on quality of life, social protection
networks and security rather than the economic growth
only. Science can support this process by translating
the biophysical terms into socio-economical and socioecological terms and providing relevant examples that
work in practice. Solutions should also be politically
attractive.
• In order to improve evidence-based decision-making,
there is a need to enable dialogues on knowledge,
knowledge needs and the implications of the knowledge
between researchers, policymakers and stakeholders. The
international scientific Panels on climate change (IPCC),
natural resources (IRP) and biodiversity and ecosystem
services (IPBES) are important vehicles in boosting
science-policy interface and informing the decisionmakers on the urgency of action.
• We need coherent, integrated and nationally
appropriate policies to secure safe and just operating
• Democratization of information is a prerequisite in
space for human development and to translate the safe
translating the scientific messages into policy decisions and
and just operating space into policy targets and positive
practical solutions. Social scientists are needed to support
vision for transition. Sustainability and equity are both
the natural scientists on how to communicate the findings to
important.
the larger public to encourage behavioral change.
• There is a need for structured approaches to the
• Good governance which reconciles environmental and
assessment of science on how the Earth works in
social aspirations requires transparency, dynamism to
the dimensions proposed by planetary boundaries,
respond to the feedbacks and accountability to recognize
including social sciences. Climate change is rather well
and take into account the local experiences behind the
assessed but scientific, structured assessments of other
global changes. An adaptive governance response based
boundaries are critically needed.
on human rights and taking planetary boundaries into
account is required.
• Alongside a more structured and centralized approach
to science, we need co-existence and co-evolution
• In order to facilitate the transformation, the means of
of bottom-up approaches where the global planetary
implementation needs to be available. Green and inclusive
boundaries are brought to regional, national and
economy is one of the key means to achieve sustainable
local levels. For instance natural capital accounting
development. Means of implementation goes beyond
will help to understand the local thresholds. It is also
financing. It is also about dynamic cooperation between
necessary to break down the planetary boundaries to
governments, private sector, civil society actors and other
specific areas and topics: what do they mean for food,
stakeholders, and about creation of new partnerships and
production, consumption etc.
coalitions of the willing.
BACKGROUND
The main rationale for the workshop was to advocate
for the need to advance the understanding of biophysical
boundaries of global development in policy making.
The scientific work around the planetary boundaries
and environmental tipping points, as well as the political
processes on global Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) and the broader Post-2015 agenda were therefore
key concepts, approaches, processes and frameworks of
the workshop.
In order to keep the workshop concise and pragmatic,
the discussions were conducted with a limited number of
invited scientists with expertise relevant to the workshop
topic and government and stakeholder representatives
working mainly at senior expert level with issues related to
sustainable development, planetary boundaries, resilience
and environmental pressures. More than 60 participants
from 20 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, South America
and North America attended the workshop.
WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES WERE TO:
The workshop consisted of two working days, the first was
dedicated to dialogue between the invited scientists, and
the second day provided a platform for a broader sciencepolicy-stakeholder interaction.
1. Increase the understanding of the relevance of
biophysical boundaries and tipping points for
sustainable development, and for the development of
the SDGs and the global policy agenda.
2. Facilitate a common ground for a holistic framework
by recognizing the need to consider environmental
sustainability together with the social and economic
foundation.
3. Provide a platform for discussion on planetary
boundaries and their inter-linkages, environmental
tipping points and sustainable development in an
informal setting between scientists during the science
day, and between selected Governmental experts,
scientists and stakeholders during the science-policy day.
During the Science Day the workshop was co-chaired
by Mr. Peter Gilruth, Director of the Division of Early
Warning and Assessment (DEWA), United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP) and Ms. Idunn Eidheim,
Deputy Director General, Department for International
Cooperation, Ministry of the Environment of Norway.
During the Science-Policy Day the workshop was cochaired by Ms. Idunn Eidheim, Deputy Director General,
Department for International Cooperation, Ministry of
the Environment of Norway and Ms. Jacqueline McGlade,
Senior Advisor, United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP).
The workshop provided a platform for discussions
in an informal setting. The discussions applied the
Chatham House Rule facilitating an open dialogue
without identifying in the reporting who said what
during the exchange of views.
The workshop was funded by the Ministry of the
Environment of Finland and the Nordic Council
of Ministers (NCM). Nordic Council of Ministers
has also been funding the Stockholm Resilience
Centre’s discussion paper “Global Sustainability
and Human prosperity – contribution to the Post2015 agenda and the development
of Sustainable Development Goals” which was one
of the key background papers of the workshop.
Planetary and social boundaries: a safe and just space for humanity
(Source: Raworth, 2012)
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