In a recently published article Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences According to (PNAS), researchers argue that alienable elements in the Earth system should be viewed as a global commons. They argue that the definition of the global commons should extend beyond regions beyond national borders, such as the high seas and Antarctica, as is current practice.

These should also include all the ecological systems that govern the functioning and condition of the planet, that is, all the systems on Earth on which we all depend, wherever we live. This requires new levels of transnational cooperation, according to leading experts in law, social sciences and earth sciences. To limit risks to human societies and secure critical functions of the Earth system, they propose a new structure of planetary commons to guide governance of the planet.

“The stability and prosperity of nations and our civilization depend on the stability of critical functions of the Earth system that operate beyond national borders. At the same time, human activities are increasingly placing pressure on the planetary boundaries of these key systems. From the Amazon rainforest to the Greenland ice sheets, there are irreversible changes in the functioning of the Earth system.” The risk of triggering unmanageable changes is increasing. Since these changes affect people all over the world, we argue that emissions should be seen as a planetary commons entrusted to the earth and therefore collective management is needed,” explains Johan Rockström, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). ) and Professor of Earth System Sciences at the University of Potsdam.

A study on planetary benefits and legal solutions

The publication is the result of an almost two-year research process involving 22 leading international researchers. Scholars working in law, policy, and world systems make their case by building on the well-known idea of ​​global commons, but extending it significantly to develop more effective legal measures to better govern the biophysical systems that govern sustainability beyond the planet. national boundaries, such as natural sink carbon and primary forest systems.

“We believe that the planet’s commons have the potential to articulate and establish effective governance commitments for nation-states around the world through Earth system governance aimed at restoring and strengthening planetary resilience and promoting justice. But since these commons are often located within sovereign territory, such governance commitments must also meet certain explicit justice criteria,” emphasizes sociologist and author Joyeta Gupta.

A planetary shift towards collective solutions on a global scale that transcends national borders

Global commons or global public goods, such as the high seas and deep sea bed, space, Antarctica and the atmosphere, are shared by all states. They lie outside jurisdictional boundaries and therefore sovereign rights. All states and people, especially when it comes to the extraction of resources, have a collective interest in protecting these resources and managing them effectively for the public good.

Planetary commons expands the idea of ​​global commons by adding to the global commons framework not only the geographic regions of the global commons but also the critical biophysical systems that govern the sustainability and condition of the Earth and thus its habitability. The authors argue that the consequences of such a “planetary shift” for the governance of the global commons are potentially profound. Protecting these critical regulatory functions of the earth system is a unique planetary-scale governance challenge characterized by the need for collective solutions on a global scale that transcends national boundaries.

“The world’s critically important regulatory systems are now under pressure from unprecedented levels of human activity,” said author Louis Kotse, a law professor at Northwestern University in South Africa and the University of Lincoln in the United Kingdom; and researcher at the Helmholtz Center Research Institute for Sustainable Development in Potsdam. “Our current global environmental legislation and governance system cannot solve the crisis on the planet and prevent us from exceeding the planet’s boundaries. Therefore, we urgently need planetary commons as a new law and governance approach that can more effectively protect the important regulatory functions of the Earth system.”