Al Gore and Professor Johan Rockström from Stockholm Resilience Centre, at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, January 20, 2015.   Credit: World Economic Forum/swiss-image.ch/Photo Moritz Hager.
Al Gore and Professor Johan Rockström from Stockholm Resilience Centre, at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, January 20, 2015. Credit: World Economic Forum/swiss-image.ch/Photo Moritz Hager.


This year’s theme of the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos (21-24 January) is the "New Global Context." The conference organisers conclude that the world is increasingly fragile, uncertain and that today's leaders will need a whole new set of skills to navigate it.

Johan Rockström, director of the Stockholm Resilience Centre, at Stockholm University, who has been invited to present the latest findings on planetary boundaries (published in Science, 16 January) in seven sessions at the annual event, said “Earth is now in a quantifiably new state. We have identified nine boundaries. More worryingly, we assess Earth has now crossed four of these boundaries, including two core boundaries, climate and biodiversity.”  

“This means the two-degree climate target nations are set to agree in Paris this year carries significant risks. We cannot rule out Earth crossing tipping points, for example, destabilising major ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, causing dramatic sea-level rise in the coming centuries,” continued Rockström.

”But we have also reached a tipping point for mobilisation. An increasing number of policymakers, businesses and NGOs all support immediate and profound action to decarbonise the global economy.”

Visualisation of science

Johan Rockström is in Davos together with Swedish freelance photographer and film producer Mattias Klum, who is also Honorary Doctor in Natural Science at Stockholm University and Senior Fellow at Stockholm Resilience Centre.

Together they will give several presentations in the heart of the World Economic Forum annual meeting using a large multi-touch screen that combines Klum’s photography with visualisations of the latest scientific insights on the links between global environmental change and human prosperity.

Press conference and book launch

In Davos Johan Rockström and Mattias Klum will also present their upcoming book “BIG WORLD SMALL PLANET

– Abundance within planetary boundaries”, during a breakfast seminar, and participate in a press conference with The World Wildlife Fund (WWF). At the press conference Stockholm Resilience Centre and WWF will present and answer question on the latest findings on the “New Global Context for the planet”. Speakers also include Jan Eliasson, Deputy Secretary-General, United Nations, New York, and Marco Lambertini, Director-General, WWF International, Switzerland.

The Stockholm Resilience Centre’s sessions during World Economic Forum in Davos

Wednesday 21 January

09:00 - 09:30 Big World: Small Planet (Rockström and Klum present new research insights and stunning images from the multi-touch screen, in the Congress Centre)

14:45 - 15:15 Big World: Small Planet (see above)

Thursday 22 January

09:15 - 09:45 Big World: Small Planet (see above)

13:45 – 14:15 SRC-WWF Press conference: Planetary boundaries (room tbc)

16:15 – 16:45 Big World: Small Planet (see above)

Friday 23 January

07:30 – 08:30 Planetary Boundaries breakfast and book launch Steigenberger Grandhotel Belvédère

09:00 – 09:30 Big World: Small Planet (see above)

14:45 – 15:15 Big World: Small Planet (see above)

Saturday 24 January

11:00 – 11:30 Big World: Small Planet (see above)