A new study maps the planetary boundary of "functional biosphere integrity" in spatial detail and over centuries. It finds that 60% of global land areas are now already outside the locally defined safe zone, and 38% are even in the high-risk zone.

The study was led by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) together with BOKU University in Vienna and published in the journal One Earth.

Functional biosphere integrity refers to the plant world's ability to co-regulate the state of the Earth system. This requires that the plant world is able to acquire enough energy through photosynthesis to maintain the material flows of carbon, water and nitrogen that support the ecosystems and their many networked processes, despite today's massive human interference.

Together with biodiversity loss and climate change, functional integrity forms the core of the Planetary Boundaries analytical framework for a safe operating space for humanity.

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