Context:
According to a new study, the world has breached six of the nine planetary boundaries necessary to maintain Earth’s stability and resilience.
Key Points
What is the concept of planetary boundaries?
- They are thresholds within which humanity can survive, develop and thrive for generations to come.
What are the 9 boundaries?
- Biosphere integrity
- Climate change
- Freshwater changes
- Ocean acidification
- Stratospheric ozone depletion
- Atmospheric aerosol loading
- Land system change
- The introduction of novel entities such as synthetic chemicals and nuclear waste.
- Biogeochemical flows such as the movement of nitrogen through global element cycles.
It is estimated around one million of the 8 million plant and animal species are threatened with extinction, and over 10 percent of the genetic diversity of plants and animals may have been wiped out over the last 150 years.
What are the 6 boundaries that has been transgressed?
- Climate change
- Biosphere integrity (genetic diversity and energy available to ecosystems)
- Land system change
- Freshwater change (changes across the entire water cycle over land)
- Biogeochemical flows (nutrient cycles)
- Novel entities (micro plastics, endocrine disruptors, and organic pollutants)
Source: Down to Earth
Previous Year Question
Consider the following infrastructure sectors:
1. Affordable housing
2. Mass rapid transport
3. Health care
4. Renewable energy
On how many of the above does the UNOPS Sustainable Investments in Infrastructure and Innovation (S3i) initiative focus for its investments?
[UPSC Civil Services Exam – 2023 Prelims]
(a) Only one
(b) Only two
(c) Only three
(d) All four
Answer: (c)
