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The evolution of the planetary boundaries framework. Licenced under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 (Credit: Azote for Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University. Based on Sakschewski and Caesar et al. 2025, Richardson et al. 2023, Steffen et al. 2015, and Rockström et al. 2009).
The planetary boundaries framework highlights the rising risks from human pressure on nine critical global processes that regulate the stability and resilience of the Earth
In 2023, a team of scientists quantified, for the first time, the framework's nine processes that together maintain a stable and resilient Earth system.
The planetary boundaries were first proposed in 2009 by a group of 28 internationally renowned scientists led by former centre director Johan Rockström. Combining insights from many fields of global environmental change research, the framework highlights nine global change processes where human activities affect Earth system functioning. Planetary boundaries are quantitative assessments of the safe limits for human pressure on these nine critical processes.
The 2023 update not only quantified all planetary boundaries, it also concluded that six of the nine boundaries are transgressed.
Crossing boundaries increases the risk of generating large-scale abrupt or irreversible environmental changes. The impacts of these changes will not necessarily be immediate or drastic, but together the boundaries mark a critical threshold for risks to societies and the biosphere we are part of.
Planetary boundaries are interdependent. The long-term large-scale stability of the past, which allowed human societies to develop and thrive, comes from the complex interactions of biophysical processes within the Earth system. This means we cannot consider planetary boundaries in isolation in any decision-making on sustainability. Action that affects one process in the planetary boundaries framework will affect the risks of the other processes. Only by respecting all nine boundaries can we maintain the safe operating space for humanity.
Over the years, the planetary boundaries framework has generated enormous interest. Centre researchers develop and use the framework within science, policy, and practice.
Since 2024, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research uses the planetary boundaries framework for its Planetary Health Check, updated yearly. Find the new report here.
Rockström
What connects complex networks in trade or social networks is also at play in the climate system and even the human brain. Frontier research using advanced mathematical methods explores the dynamics of all these; dynamics that are often non-linear and hard to detect but to some extent universal in nature. Machine Learning, often dubbed Artificial Intelligence, is applied to this end, making sense out of Big Data from weather phenomena to human interactions. Decision theory and Game Theory helps to understand why people do what they do. And it helps to develop novel designs for processes that may support finding comprehensive solutions.
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WWF - Endangered Species Conservation
As biodiversity declines, climate impacts increase, and vital ecosystems vanish, the future of nature and all it provides is in peril. The very foundation of human civilization—our planet’s delicate web of life—hangs in the balance.
Join us and help protect nature for all life on Earth, including our own.
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Investing in wildlife conservation
WWF advocates for US government programs that provide critical support for protecting wildlife and wild places, from restoring iconic American species like the black-footed ferret and buffalo to conserving elephants, tigers, rhinos, great apes, and turtles around the world. For decades, WWF has worked with members of Congress in both parties and other environmental organizations to support the enactment of federal programs that support wildlife conservation. More recently, WWF helped establish a new US Foundation for International Conservation. WWF also advocates to support and defend the Endangered Species Act, the nation’s primary law protecting species from extinction, with a 99% success rate.
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Stopping the illegal trade of natural resources
Defending nature is a matter of national security. WWF supports US government programs and policies to stop illegal wildlife trafficking; enforce the Lacey Act to halt the illegal timber trade; and prevent Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing by strengthening the NOAA Seafood Import Monitoring Program so that all seafood entering the US marketplace is fully traceable to legal sources. Laws like the Big Cat Public Safety Act—which was enacted in 2022 following the advocacy of nearly 700,000 WWF members—are instrumental in helping prevent captive wildlife from ending up in the illegal trade of their parts and products. Following calls led by WWF and industry to halt imports of illegally sourced wood, the Department of Agriculture requires greater supply chain traceability of products such as furniture, sporting goods, housewares, tools, boats, vehicles, and cork.
Conserving forests
Effective forest conservation and management are essential to tackle some of the most pressing problems we face: species loss, climate change, freshwater scarcity, wildfires, corruption, and weak governance. WWF works to protect critical forest ecosystems such as the Amazon and Congo Basin, including through debt-for-nature swaps under the innovative Tropical Forest and Coral Reef Conservation Act. WWF further supports policies to tackle the illegal and unsustainable production of agricultural products that drive forest, grassland, and habitat loss globally. Additionally, WWF works to create and implement effective safeguards for infrastructure development—particularly roads, railways, and power lines—that protect people and nature from harm.
© WWF-Peru/Enrique Castro-Mendívil
Securing our food and freshwater systems
Healthy ecosystems are foundational to food and water security. But unsustainable agricultural practices and overexploited freshwater resources are major drivers of nature loss. WWF is a founding member of the Zero Food Waste Coalition, which supports measures to reduce the 40% of the US food supply that is wasted every year, such as modernizing expiration date labels. WWF urges Congress to pass a long-overdue new Farm Bill that invests in American farmers, ranchers, and forest-owners to conserve critical habitats such as native grasslands in the Northern Great Plains and build a more resilient food system.
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Reducing plastic waste
WWF’s No Plastic in Nature initiative aims to stop the flow of plastic into nature by 2030. WWF's approach brings together all stakeholders—government, businesses, and the public—to reduce the consumption of plastic while establishing more consistency in how people reuse and recycle it. At the state and federal levels, WWF advocates for reduced reliance on single-use plastics as well as Extended Producer Responsibility measures that have now been enacted in states like Minnesota, Maryland, Washington, and Colorado to ensure that companies creating plastic waste are responsible for reducing their plastic footprint. Bipartisan, pragmatic measures like the Save Our Seas Act 2.0 that help the federal government better understand the barriers to recycling and identify interventions to keep plastic out of nature have also become law following WWF’s advocacy.
© Shutterstock / Mohamed Abdulraheew / WWF
Building resilience to a changing climate
People and nature are under increasing threats from rising sea levels, hotter oceans, more severe droughts, and heat waves. WWF supports policies to advance clean energy solutions, reduce pollution, and invest in countries’ resilience to natural disasters and extreme weather. This includes advocating for renewable energy deployment and protecting communities from the extreme heat, flooding, storms, and other disasters that are becoming increasingly common around the world. WWF also advocates for elevating actions and policies that harness the power of nature in the US government response to a changing climate.