“In a single human lifetime, largely since the 1950s, we have grossly simplified the biosphere, a system that has evolved over 3.8 billion years. Now just a few plants and animals dominate the land and oceans,” Carl Folke, director of the Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics and chair of the Stockholm Resilience Centre at Stockholm University.

In a 3 day virtual event The first Nobel Prize Summit, “Our Planet, Our Future” will be held from 26-28 April. It will bring together Nobel Prize laureates and other renowned leaders in the sciences, policy, business, the youth movement, and the arts to explore actions that can be achieved this decade to put the world on a path to a more sustainable, more prosperous future for all. 

In a report produced for the summit by an international group of researchers  Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research states: We are at the dawn of what must be a transformative decade. The Nobel Prize Summit is really the scientific community shouting “Wake Up!”

Carl Folke explained:

“Our actions are making the biosphere more fragile, less resilient and more prone to shocks than before. “

“Humanity must become effective planetary stewards. About 96% of all mammals by weight are us, H. Sapiens, and our livestock, or cattle, sheep and pigs. Just 4% are wild mammals like elephants, buffalo or dolphins.”

The report summarises recent research on the scale of human activity:

“75% of Earth’s ice-free land is directly altered as a result of human activity, with nearly 90% of terrestrial net primary production and 80% of global tree cover under direct human influence.“

Rising greenhouse gas emissions means that

“Within the coming 50 years one-to-three billion people are projected to experience living conditions that are outside of the climate conditions, which have served civilizations well over the past 6,000 years,” depending on how population and climate scenarios play out, according to the report’s summary.

Co-author Line Gordon, director of the Stockholm Resilience Centre says,

“This is a decisive decade for humanity. In this decade we must bend the curves of greenhouse gas emissions and shocking biodiversity loss. This means transforming what we eat and how we farm it, among many other transformations.”

Instead of listing the well-known solutions such as wind power, solar or plant-based diets, the researchers tackle the barriers stopping progress. Two of the biggest barriers are unsustainable levels of inequality and technology that undermines societal goals.

The report concludes that inequality and environmental challenges are deeply linked. Reducing inequality will increase trust within societies.

Trust is essential for governments to make long-term decisions, the report argues. Social media and access to reliable knowledge is also highlighted as a barrier to progress.

The risks of the next generation of technologies are brought into focus throughout the report.

Victor Galaz, the deputy director of the Stockholm Resilience Centre, commented:

“As the pressure of human activities accelerates on Earth, so too does the hope that technologies such as artificial intelligence will be able to help us deal with dangerous climate and environmental change. That will only happen however, if we act forcefully in ways that redirects the direction of technological change towards planetary stewardship and responsible innovation.”

Our Planet Our Future

The first Nobel Prize Summit, Our Planet, Our Future, a three-day digital event open to all, has been convened to provide a platform for scientists to discuss the state of the planet at a critical juncture for humanity. It will explore two urgent questions:

What can we learn from the global pandemic to reduce risk of future shocks?

And, what can be achieved in this decade to put the world on a path to a more sustainable, more prosperous future for all of humanity?

Carl Folke said:

“The global pandemic is an Anthropocene phenomena. It has been caused by our intertwined relationship with nature and our hyper-connectivity.

” But the pandemic crisis opens up the possibility to change the course of history. It is a moment to accelerate action to stabilize Earth for future generations.”

The summit is based around three themes:

• the biosphere (climate and biodiversity loss)
• rising inequality
• the technological revolution.

The full paper referred to above is published in the April 2021 issue of Ambio a journal of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (published 22 March)

Speakers at “Our Planet, Our Future” include:

• Al Gore, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former U.S. vice president
• Dalai Lama, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Tibetan spiritual leader
• Xiye Bastida, climate activist and youth leader
• Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to the U.S. president and executive director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
• Jennifer Doudna, Nobel Prize laureate and professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of California
• Peter Doherty, Nobel Prize laureate and patron of the Doherty Institute, University of Melbourne
• Sandra Diaz, professor of ecosystems, Universidad Nacional de Cordoba, Argentina
• Tom Lovejoy, professor of ecosystems, George Mason University, Washington, D.C.