This is a public event. More information on the conference programme and registration can be found here.
Numerous environmental pressures are intensifying around the world. From climate change and stratospheric ozone depletion to biosphere integrity and biogeochemical flows, there are many aspects of environmental change that may threaten human civilization as we know it. In response to these multiple challenges, a group of international researchers has developed the concept of ‘planetary boundaries’ as an integrated analytical tool for seeking to delineate a ‘safe operating space’ for humanity.
On 24-25 April, a Planetary Boundaries conference will be held in Berlin. The conference focuses on how the planetary boundaries concept can be used to shape our governance systems at all levels: politically, socially and economically. This usage can enable and facilitate humanity’s remaining within or returning into a safe operating space. At this conference, one workshop will also be devoted to discussing the geopolitical implications of planetary boundaries – and hence its conceptual interlinkage with planetary security.
If planetary boundaries define the safe operating space for humanity, crossing these boundaries will have important socio-economic and political consequences with repercussions for international politics. The foreign policy consequences of approaching or crossing two such boundaries, climate change and freshwater use, have been extensively discussed. However, this is not the case for other planetary boundaries. Should foreign and security policy makers worry about those boundaries as well? What are the mechanisms by which the different planetary boundaries may impact on national, regional or even global stability? What risks and opportunities do these impacts entail for international cooperation? And if there is a role for foreign policy, what should it be?
Conference and workshop participants are invited to discuss these and more questions with a distinguished panel. This panel includes among others, Johan Rockström who helped lead the work on devising the planetary boundaries framework, and Michel van Winden, the Dutch foreign ministry’s focal point for the Planetary Security Initiative.