Researchers say fostering global cooperation is essential to safeguard critical functions of the Earth system.

The defining elements of the Earth system should be considered global commons, researchers say in a new paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

The global commons cannot – as is currently the case – include only those parts of the planet that lie outside national borders, such as the high seas or Antarctica. They must also include all environmental systems that regulate the functioning and state of the planet, namely all the systems on Earth on which we all depend, regardless of where we live in the world. This requires a new level of transnational cooperation, say leading experts in legal, social and Earth system sciences. In order to limit risks for human societies and guarantee the critical functions of the Earth system, they propose a new framework of planetary commons to guide the governance of the planet.

“The stability and wealth of nations and our civilization depend on the stability of critical Earth system functions that operate across national boundaries. At the same time, human activities are increasingly pushing the planetary limits of these essential systems. With Greenland’s ice masses, there are increasing risks of triggering irreversible and unmanageable changes in the functioning of the Earth system,” explains Johan Rockström, director of the Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in Potsdam and professor of earth system sciences at the University of Potsdam.

“As these changes affect populations around the world, we argue that tipping points should be considered planetary commons with which the world is burdened and which, therefore, need collective governance.”

The publication is the result of a nearly two-year research process involving 22 leading international researchers. Legal, political, and Earth system scientists make their case by building on the well-known idea of ​​the global commons, but greatly extending it to design more effective legal responses to better govern biophysical systems that regulate planetary resilience across national borders, such as natural carbon sinks and major forest systems.

“We believe that the planetary commons has the potential to articulate and create effective management obligations for nation states around the world through Earth system governance aimed at restoring and strengthening planetary resilience and promoting “However, given that these commons are often located in sovereign territories, such management obligations must also meet clear criteria of justice,” says social scientist and author Joyeeta Gupta.

A global shift towards collective solutions on a global scale transcending national borders

Global commons or global public goods such as the high seas and deep seabed, outer space, Antarctica and the atmosphere are shared by all states. They are located outside jurisdictional boundaries and therefore sovereign rights. All states and people have a collective interest, particularly when it comes to resource extraction, that they are protected and governed effectively for the collective good.

The planetary commons expands the idea of ​​the global commons by adding not only globally shared geographic regions to the global commons framework, but also critical biophysical systems that regulate resilience and condition, and thus l habitability on Earth. The consequences of such a “global shift” in the governance of the global commons are potentially profound, the authors say. Safeguarding these critical regulatory functions of the Earth system poses a challenge on a unique planetary governance scale, characterized by the need for collective, global solutions that transcend national boundaries.

“Earth’s critical regulatory systems are now being put under pressure by human activities to unprecedented levels,” says article author Louis Kotzé, a law professor at North West University in South Africa. South and at the University of Lincoln in the United Kingdom; and researcher at the Institute for Sustainability Research Helmholtz Center Potsdam.

“Our current framework of global environmental law and governance is incapable of responding to the planetary crisis and preventing us from crossing planetary boundaries. This is why we urgently need planetary commons as a new approach to law and governance capable of more effectively safeguarding the critical regulatory functions of the Earth system.”