Box 1.

Global specification of sustainability requirements for world agriculture in order to stay within the Planetary Boundaries

Planetary boundary	“Green” revolution specification
Climate change	To stay within 350 ppm requires an agricultural system that goes from being a source to a global sink.
Land use change	Cropland can only expand from 12 to 15%. Higher yields have to be produced on current croplands by increasing productivity.
Freshwater use	Keep global consumptive use of blue water <4000 km3/year. We are at 2,600 km3/year today, and thus irrigation expansion is limited.
Interference with global N and P cycles	Reduce to 25% of current N extraction from atmosphere.
	Not increase P inflow to oceans.
Rate of biodiversity loss	Reduce loss of biodiversity to <10 E/MSY from current 100–1000 E/MSY (E/MSY = extinctions per million species per year).