Planetary Health Check: Our Planet is Reaching its Limit

The Planetary Boundaries (PBs) framework analyses and monitors the nine PB processes and systems that scientifically are proven to regulate the health of our planet. Each of these processes, such as Climate Change or Ocean Acidification, is currently quantified by one or two different control variables. The 2024 Planetary Health Check report reveals that six out of nine PB processes have breached the safe PB levels, with all six showing trends of increasing pressure in all control variables, suggesting further boundary transgression in the near future (see graph on screenshot).

The six PB processes that have breached safe PB levels are:

1. Climate Change (6.1): Atmospheric CO2 levels are at a 15-million-year high, and global radiative forcing continues to rise, with a persistent warming trend that has acceler- ated since the late 20th century. Global mean temperatures are now higher than at any point since human civilizations emerged on Earth.
2. Change in Biosphere Integrity (6.2): The global loss of genetic diversity and the loss of functional integrity (measured as energy available to ecosystems) are both ex- ceeding safe levels and accelerating, particularly in regions experiencing intensive land use. The vast decrease in biosphere integrity raises concerns that Earth’s bio- sphere is losing resilience, adaptability, and its capacity to mitigate various pres- sures, including those from transgressing other PBs.
3. Land System Change (6.3): As a result of land use and increasingly due to climate change, global and regional forests have been steadily declining over the last few de- cades across all major forest biomes. Most regions are already in the High Risk Zone, well beyond their safe boundaries, while some areas have only recently breached safe levels (e.g., temperate and tropical America).
4. Freshwater Change (6.4): Local streamflow and soil moisture deviations have signifi- cantly increased since the late 19th century, surpassing their respective PBs in the early 20th century. The increasing variability and instability in global freshwater and terrestrial water systems signal growing concerns for water resource management and environmental stability.
5. Modification of Biogeochemical Flows (6.5): The use of phosphorus and nitrogen in agriculture has exceeded safe boundary levels, driving significant ecological change. Breaching this boundary has led to severe environmental impacts such as water pol- lution, eutrophication, harmful algal blooms, and "dead zones" in freshwater and ma- rine ecosystems. This issue has been prevalent in industrialized countries for a long time and is increasingly becoming a concern in developing regions as well.
6. Introduction of Novel Entities (6.9): The global introduction of novel entities — such as synthetic chemicals, plastics, and genetically modified organisms — is vast, yet a significant portion of these substances remains untested for their environmental impacts. This indicates that the boundary is likely exceeded, although exact figures are uncertain. Novel entities can disrupt critical Earth system processes (e.g., CFCs notably damaged the ozone layer), harm ecosystems (e.g., pesticides have caused significant declines in insect and pollinator populations), and lead to long-term, pos- sibly irreversible changes in the environment, including the contamination of soil and water bodies and the alteration of natural habitats.

Read more: https://www.planetaryguardians.org/the-planetary-boundary-health-check
Report 2024: https://www.planetaryhealthcheck.org/storyblok-cdn/f/301438/x/518586db3…