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The biosphere integrity planetary boundary was, at least partly, developed to aid policymakers in addressing the dangerous decline of Earth’s biodiversity. However, just over a decade since its origination the extent and speed of its adoption as a policy tool remains unclear. Here, we review the uptake of the biosphere integrity boundary into environmental policy at national and international scales, to determine the rapidity at which it has become embedded. We analyzed environmental reports published since 2009 by national governments in Europe and North America, and international reports by global biodiversity conventions and bodies. Our study found that over the last decade the framework has been referenced relatively infrequently at the international scale, though seen greater uptake at national scales, particularly in Europe. Assessing whether this represents a rapid policy uptake remains challenging due to the paucity of comparable studies on rates for analogous concepts. However, our findings suggest that the biosphere integrity planetary boundary has become relatively quickly and increasingly embedded into some national policy.

We explore the role of agriculture in destabilizing the Earth system at the planetary scale, through examining nine planetary boundaries, or "safe limits": land-system change, freshwater use, biogeochemical flows, biosphere integrity, climate change, ocean acidification, stratospheric ozone depletion, atmospheric aerosol loading, and introduction of novel entities. Two planetary boundaries have been fully transgressed, i.e., are at high risk, biosphere integrity and biogeochemical flows, and agriculture has been the major driver of the transgression. Three are in a zone of uncertainty i.e., at increasing risk, with agriculture the major driver of two of those, landsystem change and freshwater use, and a significant contributor to the third, climate change. Agriculture is also a significant or major contributor to change for many of those planetary boundaries still in the safe zone. To reduce the role of agriculture in transgressing planetary boundaries, many interventions will be needed, including those in broader food systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore the role of agriculture in destabilizing the Earth system at the planetary scale, through examining nine planetary boundaries, or "safe limits": land-system change, freshwater use, biogeochemical flows, biosphere integrity, climate change, ocean acidification, stratospheric ozone depletion, atmospheric aerosol loading, and introduction of novel entities. Two planetary boundaries have been fully transgressed, i.e., are at high risk, biosphere integrity and biogeochemical flows, and agriculture has been the major driver of the transgression. Three are in a zone of uncertainty i.e., at increasing risk, with agriculture the major driver of two of those, land-system change and freshwater use, and a significant contributor to the third, climate change. Agriculture is also a significant or major contributor to change for many of those planetary boundaries still in the safe zone. To reduce the role of agriculture in transgressing planetary boundaries, many interventions will be needed, including those in broader food systems.