ABSTRACT
To respect environmental limits, we need knowledge about global natural capital, how humans interact with and depend on these resources, and how to make policy decisions when the environmental problems to be solved are complex and decisions have uncertain and possibly irreversible consequences. Bringing together recent contributions from natural science and economics we suggest that limits must be set that reflect the ‘precautionary principle’ in the sense of favouring earlier and more intense intervention. In agreement with the planetary boundary approach, we argue for two key sustainability themes on environmental limits: mitigating climate change and safeguarding biosphere integrity.
