Crossing the Line? Planetary Boundaries, Ocean Governance, and Earth’s Tipping Points

Show-notes

Réseaux sociaux & liens utiles :

• Google Scholar : https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=xj1ssPIAAAAJ&hl=da
• LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherine-richardson-c/
• Wikipedia : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Richardson_Christensen

Chapitre 1 : Introduction 

[0:00:32] Katherine, can you introduce yourself ? 

[0:01:54] Can you explain what the High Seas treaty is ? 

High Seas treaty : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Seas_Treaty

[0:05:02] The goal of the treaty is to make sure that we get enough of this high sea, dedicated to preservation. Is that correct ? 

[0:06:35] Is deep sea mining a problem in itself ?

[0:09:33] Some places on earth deserve more attention, which ones ? 

Chapitre 2 : Planetary Boundaries 

[0:14:31] What is life? 

[0:15:45] Can you comment on one of your quotes ? 

“Every time life has found a new energy source to exploit, there has been absolute chaos”

[0:18:08] Could you tell me what happened twelve thousand years ago ? 

[0:26:29] The ocean is also a CO2 buffer, could you tell us more about this ? 

[0:30:47] Some people say we are not in the holocene anymore. You established a framework of planetary boundaries. Can you tell us the story behind the first paper on planetary boundaries ? 

Planetary boundaries : https://www.stockholmresilience.org/research/planetary-boundaries.html

First paper : https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=da&user=xj1ssPIAAAAJ&citation_for_view=xj1ssPIAAAAJ:cFHS6HbyZ2cC

[0:43:20] How easy was it to get the paper accepted ? 

Second paper : https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=da&user=xj1ssPIAAAAJ&citation_for_view=xj1ssPIAAAAJ:L7CI7m0gUJcC

Third paper : https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=da&user=xj1ssPIAAAAJ&citation_for_view=xj1ssPIAAAAJ:37UQlXuwjP4C

[0:47:36] In the first two papers, you greyed out 2 of the 9 planetary boundaries because they were not assessed with sufficient precision. How were those boundaries defined? Why were 7 of them assessed while the other 2 were not? And why were they considered insufficiently precautionary at that time? 

[0:56:03] Can planetary boundaries be exceeded? What is your perspective on the apparent lack of concern about surpassing these limits? Why do people tend to wait for consequences to materialize before taking action?

[0:59:35] Can you elaborate on the biodiversity dimension and how it is measured, both in terms of biosphere integrity and climate change? What is the difference between these two aspects?

[1:08:45] Land-system change remains poorly understood, yet it is considered a primary lever for achieving the Paris Agreement targets. How does it contribute to this objective? Could you elaborate and provide some examples?

Paris Agreement : https://unfccc.int/fr/a-propos-des-ndcs/l-accord-de-paris

World CO2 emissions per year : https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions

[1:13:13] Freshwater is also essential to life. How did freshwater become recognized as a planetary boundary when it was previously considered a local issue?

[1:18:36] What is a boundary ? Can we go back under a safe operating zone ? Could you explain that ? 

[1:23:22] Is access to metals considered a planetary boundary? Why or why not?

Chapitre 3 : Personal questions 

[1:24:43] Which questions about your work have been the most challenging or difficult to address? How do you typically handle them?

[1:28:34] Imagine that you can write a message to many students at the same time. What would be that message ?

Remerciements :
Emilie Malcourant
Monxage
LLL
UCLouvain
Louis Gayina