Ekolojik Sorunların Analizinde Yeni Bir Yaklaşım: Planeter Sınırlar
Mehmet Ali ÇelikBu araştırma, politik ekolojiye dair yeni bir yaklaşım olan, Planeter Sınırları analiz etmektedir. Planeter Sınırlar, çevresel sorunları ve iklim değişikliğini toplumsal bağlamından koparmadan ele almaktadır. Bu yaklaşım, radikal ekoloji hareketlerinin aksine, bugünün sosyal, siyasal ve ekonomik yapısını yeşil doğanın ontolojik yapısının karşıt konumuna yerleştirmez. Planeter Sınırlar, Donut şeması kullanarak 9 ekolojik riskin güvenli sınırlar içerisine çekilerek, 11 sosyal sorunun çözüm yolunun açılacağını öne sürmektedir. İlk defa 2009 yılında ortaya atılan bu çerçeve, 2015 ve 2019 yıllarında geliştirilmiştir. Planeter Sınırlar, tüm ekosistemlerin aynı oranda risk ile karşı karşıya olmadığını savunur ve çevresel sorunların kategorilere/gezegenlere ayrılarak kantitatif olarak incelemesini sağlar. Örneğin, karbondioksit salınımının sınır değeri 350 ppm iken bugün ulaştığı değer 412 ppm’dir. Burada eşik değer yani güvenli zon ya da ekolojik tavan aşılmıştır. Bir diğer kategori biyolojik çeşitlilik %16’nın üzerindedir. Bunun yanı sıra son dönemlerde yapılan araştırmalar, nitrojen ve fosfor döngüsü ile arazi örtüsü değişimi ve ormansızlaşmada ekolojik tavanın aşıldığını göstermiştir. Ozon tabakasının incelmesi, okyanusların asitlenmesi ve temiz su tüketiminde küresel çapta ekolojik tavan henüz aşılmamıştır ancak risk seviyesi artmaktadır.
A New Approach to Analyzing Ecological Problems: Planetary Boundaries
Mehmet Ali ÇelikThis research analyzes the planetary boundaries framework, which is a new approach to political ecology. Planetary boundaries examine environmental issues and climate change in a social context. Unlike radical ecology movements, this approach does not examine the current social, political, and economic structure against the ontology of green nature. The planetary boundaries uses the doughnut scheme and suggests that 11 social problems can be solved if nine ecological risks are brought within safe zones. This framework was first introduced in 2009 and further developed in 2015 and 2019. According to the planetary boundaries concept, not all ecosystems face the same level of risk, and environmental issues need to be categorized and analyzed quantitatively. For example, while the limit of carbon dioxide emissions had been 350 ppm, it has currently reached 412 ppm. The safe zone, also called the ecological ceiling, has been exceeded. Another category is biodiversity loss. While the limit for biodiversity loss had been 10%, it has currently reached over 16%. Recent studies have shown the ecological ceilings to have also been exceeded with regard to the nitrogen and phosphorus cycles, land cover changes, and deforestation. The global ecological ceilings for ozone depletion, ocean acidification, and freshwater consumption have not yet been exceeded, but the level of risk is increasing.
The last few centuries have seen important developments in human history. Humans are more powerful than ever. This new epoch is called the Anthropocene. Many problems have emerged regarding the exploitation of nature during the Anthropocene. Ecological crises and the risk of climate change have been reported in many studies as some of the most significant problems of the Anthropocene Epoch. These days, human activities are disrupting the ecological balance. As a result, the number of existing species and their diversity are decreasing, the climate is changing, and the balance of the ecosystem in general is deteriorating. Ecology involves various systems, and which ecological systems are in crisis needs to be understood well. For this reason, ecology needs to be examined by separating it into various planetary boundaries and revealing in which boundaries a crisis occurs more clearly and quantitatively. This approach is called the planetary boundaries framework. The main purpose of the planetary boundaries framework is to determine the safe zone for a healthier life for all living things, especially humans. One of the main goals of the planetary boundaries framework is to reform the existing system and reconcile it with nature. The planetary boundaries concept was put forward in 2009 by a group of scientists doing research on the environment. The leaders of this approach are Johan Rockström, Director of the Climate Impacts Research Institute in Germany, and Chemist Will Steffen, Director of the Australian Climate Commission.
The planetary boundaries framework has currently determined nine categories. When the concept was first introduced in 2009, the ecological ceiling had been exceeded in two categories. As a result of the update made in 2015, four safe zones were reported to have exceeded. This approach aims to reach solutions to 11 social problems using nine planetary boundaries in the shape of a doughnut. The basic purposes of the planetary boundaries framework are to emphasize social inequality and offer suggestions for solving them, to support a sustainable economic model for sustainable nature, to emphasize the importance of implementing biopolitics, and to contribute to the ability to measure and predict environmental problems. The planetary boundaries framework allows the possibility of comparing the risk level of an ecological problem from the pre-Industrial Revolution to its current status. The important problems of the earth are revealed through the planetary boundaries’ doughnut chart. This chart is marked with various colors. Green areas indicate the event (boundary) to be in the safe zone, and thus the problem is not yet a high risk and remains under control. Yellow areas show the safe zone has not yet been exceeded, but the risk is increasing. Red-colored areas show that the ecological ceiling has been exceeded and the risk is now high. Controlling these problem areas is very difficult. In this context, the safe zones regarding carbon dioxide emissions, radiative forcing, loss of biodiversity, and the nitrogen and phosphorous cycles have been exceeded and the risk levels are indicated in red. For example, 350 ppm had been determined as the safe zone for CO2 levels, but currently this value has been exceeded and reaches around 400 ppm.
The increasing risk level of categories in the planetary boundaries framework has been associated with pollutants from agriculture and industry, greenhouse gas emissions, and land cover changes. In this context, the destructive effects of current agricultural and industrial activities need to be emphasized. According to the planetary boundaries framework, adapting agriculture and industry is important for reducing the risk of climate change and ecological crises. According to the planetary boundaries approach, problems such as loss of biodiversity, climate change, land cover changes, and the nitrogen and phosphorus cycles have crossed their safe zones, are at great risk, and also negatively affect society.
