Johan Rockström is Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Professor in Earth System Science at the University of Potsdam. He is an internationally recognized scientist on global sustainability issues and led the development of the Planetary Boundaries framework for human development in the current era of rapid global change. Professor Rockström is a leading scientist on global water resources, with more than 25 years experience in applied water research in tropical regions, and more than 150 research publications in fields ranging from applied land and water management to global sustainability. He is i.a. chair of the Earth Commission and Future Earth as well as fellow of Earth League, Chief Scientist of Conservation International, member of the European Investment Bank Advisory Group, and elected member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.
I can’t give you a precise date, but some time in the past two years the world crossed a threshold and incremental action on climate change was off the menu. To keep temperatures below 2°...
Stepping in to the COP23 climate talks in Bonn, Germany, is like wandering through an alternative reality. At no point in these vast cavernous rooms are you confronted with the sheer urge...
I and my colleagues have spent a decade or more trying to get a handle on tipping points in complex systems. A tipping point is when something changes rapidly to a new state - like water ...
The phrases a drop in the ocean or plenty more fish in the sea expose a worldview of the oceans as an infinite, resilient resource. This needs updating. The oceans are finite, fragile and...
The world has entered the Anthropocene. We are today a "big world on a small planet" where the economy exerts phenomenal pressure on Earth. There is no free natural capital left. All rema...
Professor Klaus Schwab argues convincingly we are on the brink of the Fourth Industrial Revolution - the focus for discussions in Davos this year.
