Project description
Planetary Boundaries (PBs) quantify the safe limits for human activities on Earth. Bold, socio-economic transformative approaches bridging compliance of global biophysical limits, and their local implementation are needed to ensure maintaining the resilience of ecosystem functions that our societies depend on. Traditional business-as usual approaches that prioritize economic development over environmental sustainability have led to the overuse of natural resources and significant environmental degradation. Therefore, we must fundamentally rethink how we govern and develop regional territories.
At the same time, there is a clear identified need for regions to improve their adaptive capacity to prepare for potentially devastating risks to the built environment, biodiversity, forests and human health. This, in turn, requires inducing “transformational adaptation” to addresses not only climate risks but also underlying structural conditions influencing social vulnerability. Given that we have currently crossed 7 out of 9 identified PBs, it is imperative to provide concrete guidance as to how regions can exist in and adapt to a world ‘beyond’ a safe operating space.
In this TERRBOUND project, researchers from the Finnish Environment Institute Syke, Stockholm Resilience Center, and Demos Helsinki address the critical gap between the global scientific concept of PBs and its operationalization at the regional and local levels across Europe. Our overarching aspiration is to develop scientifically robust, socially just, and data-informed downscaling methodologies that enable the PB framework to guide governance and planning across European territories.
By using both bottom-up and top-down approaches, and in close collaboration with stakeholders from six case study regions, we will:
- co-develop a methodology for translating PBs to sub-national levels
- apply the methodology in the case studies to co-develop the approach
- produce actionable policy recommendations for transformative territorial governance
The resulting transdisciplinary approach for operationalizing PBs at sub-national levels will be informed by Earth system science, geography, social and political sciences and strong iterative stakeholder engagement. Pan-European and case-specific data, maps and policy recommendations will support the practical application and policy relevance of PBs at sub-national levels. At the same time, questions of social justice will be at the center of the process. Stakeholder engagement during the project and the resulting recommendations will support regions across Europe to develop strategies and plans to pursue maintaining a safe operating space for humanity.
