Defining limits to development

摘要

Three Australians are part of a group of 28 scientists who defined limits to human development in a paper published in the 24 September issue of Nature. According to the paper, the relatively stable climate of the past 10,000 years (known as the Holocene) has allowed the hallmarks of human civilisation, such as agriculture, to develop. Therefore the authors believe these environmental conditions are necessary to maintain modern societies and economies. "We make a first attempt at identifying planetary boundaries for key Earth system processes associated with dangerous thresholds, the crossing of which could push the planet out of the desired Holocene state," the authors wrote.