Breaching planetary boundaries: Over half of global land area suffers critical losses in functional biosphere integrity

This study from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and BOKU University can help you to understand how different regions of the world are moving beyond "functional biosphere integrity" - the ability of plants to help regulate the planet's life-support systems. In order to uphold functional biosphere integrity, plants must acquire enough energy through photosynthesis to maintain the material flows of carbon, water, and nitrogen that support ecosystems and their processes. Unfortunately, intersecting crises such as climate change, nature loss, and land cover conversion are eroding this capacity. The study finds that 60% of global land areas already exist outside the locally defined safe zone, and 38% are now in high-risk zones.

The study builds on the Planetary Boundaries framework published in 2023, which puts energy flows from photosynthesis at the center of those processes that co-regulate planetary stability. The study finds that stress from human activities on the Earth system can be measured by the proportion of natural biomass productivity that humanity is channeling into its own uses – through harvested crops, residues, and timber, as well as the reduction in photosynthetic activity caused by land cultivation and land sealing. The study added to this measure a second and strong indicator of biosphere integrity: complex structural changes in vegetation and in the biosphere’s water, carbon, and nitrogen balances.