Frontiers Planet Prize
International Champions

Meet the 1st edition International Champions

  • Baojing Gu is from Hangzhou, China. He represents the international nitrogen management research group based at Zhejiang University. His team's research is based on how to mitigate global PM2.5 pollution by reducing nitrogen emissions through interdisciplinary analysis of nitrogen budget, atmospheric chemistry, human health, cost-benefit and policy implications. The goals of this initiative are (1) to reduce both atmospheric aerosol loading and nitrogen pollution to the safe planetary boundary, (2) to save economic resources from pollution control and fertiliser use for food production, (3) to increase the efficiency of global PM2.5 pollution control, and (4) to highlight the importance of ammonia abatement for the synergy of food security and environmental protection.

    RESEARCH ARTICLE
    Published in Science.org, 2021.
    Contributing authors: Lin Zhang, Rita van Dingenen, Massimo Vieno, Hans JM van Grinsven, Xiuming Zhang, Shaohui Zhang, Youfan Chen, Sitong Wang, Chenchen Ren, Shilpa Rao, Mike Holland, Wilfred Winiwarter, Deli Chen, Jianming Xu, and Mark A. Sutton.

    BOUNDARIES ADDRESSED
    Biogeochemical flows, Atmospheric aerosol loading

  • Paul Behrens is from the UK and is based at Leiden University in the Netherlands. At the Institute of Environmental Sciences, his group research reducing environmental impacts through changes in behaviour and production. The nominated research looks at how could land freed up by the shift to a plant-based diet be used in high-income countries. There is significant potential for a double dividend if the land saved is returned to natural vegetation (not to mention improvements in biodiversity, water quality, air quality and more). Mr Behrens works in industrial ecology on climate, energy and food systems. He has written a popular science book, The Best of Times, The Worst of Times: Futures from the Frontiers of Climate Science, which describes humanity's current trajectory and possible futures in paired chapters of pessimism and hope.

    RESEARCH ARTICLE
    Published in Nature Food, 2022. Contributing authors: Zhongxiao Sun, Laura Scherer, Arnold Tukker, Seth A. Spawn-Lee, Martin Bruckner and Holly K. Gibbs.

    BOUNDARIES ADDRESSED
    Climate change, Land system change

  • Mark New is based in Cape Town, South Africa. He represents the AXA Research Chair in African Climate Risk group based at the African Climate and Development Initiative at the University of Cape Town. The research aims to attribute the impacts of climate on society and, more importantly, how different adaptation responses can offset these impacts. This quantification of socio-economic impacts and the effectiveness of adaptation will provide evidence on which forms of adaptation are most effective in different contexts, where investments in adaptation will yield the best returns, and the extent of damage that can be avoided through adaptation. The work aims to provide better information for decision-makers and investors in adaptation, to provide more robust information on losses and damages from climate change, to raise public awareness of climate risk and its impact on human security, and ultimately to make natural and human systems more resilient to the climate risks that cannot be avoided through mitigation.

    RESEARCH ARTICLE
    Published in Communications Earth and Environment, 2022. Contributing authors: Petra B. Holden, Alanna J. Rebelo, Piotr Wolski, Romaric C. OdoulaLearn more about itmi, Kamoru A. Lawal, Joyce Kimutai, Tiro Nkemelang.

    BOUNDARIES ADDRESSED
    Biosphere integrity, Climate change, Freshwater use, Land system change

  • Carlos Peres is from Belém, in the eastern Brazilian Amazon. He leads the Amazon Ecology & Conservation Research Group at the University of East Anglia, and his research with the non-profit conservation organisation Instituto Juruá has focused on how best to protect tropical floodplain and forest ecosystems in marginalised tropical regions with poor governance, while rewarding the local stakeholders who proverbially 'hold the fort'. The aim of this 'win-win' conservation-development programme is to demonstrate that it is possible to implement bottom-up initiatives that both protect virtually intact natural ecosystems in the Amazon and improve multiple dimensions of local livelihoods, including education, healthcare and access to markets, sustainable income and information technology.

    RESEARCH ARTICLE
    Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2021. Contributing authors: João V. Campos-Silva, Joseph E. Hawes, Torbjørn Haugaasen, Carolina T. Freitas, Richard J. Ladle, and Priscila F. M. Lopes.

    BOUNDARIES ADDRESSED
    Climate change, Freshwater use, Land system change

Meet the 2nd edition International Champions

Argentina
Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (CONICET-UNC)
Dr Pedro Jaureguiberry

The direct drivers of recent global anthropogenic biodiversity loss.

  • Biography:
    I’m Pedro Jaureguiberry, based at the Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal in Córdoba, Argentina. While my primary research focus is fire ecology, I have also participated in large-scale interdisciplinary projects including the IPBES Global Assessment Report. Alongside a brilliant team of colleagues there, we conducted a global synthesis on the hierarchy of direct drivers of biodiversity loss, advancing the scope and rigor of previous knowledge. The culmination of our work was the publication of a high-impact paper, which we are presenting at the Frontiers Planet Prize 2024. Our study brings novel content and methodology insights, opening avenues for ongoing and future collaborations for generating much-needed knowledge to address the current global environmental crisis.


    Planetary Boundaries Addressed:
    Biosphere integrity, Climate change, Ocean acidification, Freshwater use, Land system change


    Published in Science Advances. Contributing authors: Nicolas Titeux, Martin Wiemers, Diana E. Bowler, Luca Coscieme, Abigail S. Golden, Carlos A. Guerra, Ute Jacob, Yasuo Takahashi, Josef Settele, Sandra Díaz, Zsolt Molnár, Andy Purvis

Germany
Senckenberg Society for Nature Research 
Prof Dr Peter Haase

The recovery of European freshwater biodiversity has come to a halt

  • Biography:
    I’m Peter Haase, from Germany, based at the Senckenberg Society for Nature Research and the University of Duisburg-Essen. Our work identifies how, where, and why biodiversity is changing over time. Our nominated research finds that freshwater biodiversity across Europe has recovered over the past 50 years in response to targeted measures. Unfortunately, new stressors including climate change and emerging pollutants have stalled this recovery. Freshwater ecosystems remain below the threshold for good ecological quality targeted by the EU. Our results demonstrate both sides of the coin—negative ramifications for freshwater biodiversity when planetary boundaries are exceeded—but also an encouraging example of how appropriate action can ameliorate degraded ecosystems.

    Planetary Boundaries Addressed:
    Biosphere integrity, Novel entities, Climate change, Freshwater use, Land system change

    Published in Nature

    Contributing authors: , Ellen A. R. Welti: Contributed significantly: Diana E. Bowler, Nathan J. Baker, Nuria Bonada, Sami Domisch, Jaime R. Garcia Marquez, Jani Heino, Daniel Hering, Sonja C. Jähnig, Astrid Schmidt-Kloiber, Rachel Stubbington, Additional 83 co-authors


United States
University of Notre Dame
Prof Jason Rohr

A planetary health innovation for disease, food, and water challenges in Africa

  • Biography:
    I’m Jason Rohr, faculty at the University of Notre Dame and Director of Disease, Food, Energy, and Water Solutions, an interdisciplinary team from the USA, Senegal, Kenya, and France that works to uncover planetary health solutions for societies. Actions that Mobilize science for a global green renaissance are sustainably beneficial for the health of humans and ecosystems. Our nominated research offers an extremely rare example of a profitable and scalable win-win solution for environmental sustainability; food, energy and water access; poverty alleviation; and infectious disease control in marginalized communities in Africa. My team and I study the effects of environmental change on human and ecosystem health and embrace the interconnectedness of the many co-dependent grand challenges facing humanity.

    Planetary Boundaries Addressed:
    Biosphere integrity, Freshwater use, Land system change, Biogeochemical flows

    Published in Nature
    Contributing authors: Alexandra Sack, Sidy Bakhoum, Christopher B. Barrett, David Lopez-Carr, Andrew J. Chamberlin, David J. Civitello, Cledor Diatta, Molly J. Doruska, Giulio A. De Leo, Christopher J. E. Haggerty, Isabel J. Jones, Nicolas Jouanard, Andrea J. Lund, Amadou T. Ly, Raphael A. Ndione, Justin V. Remais, Gilles Riveau, Anne-Marie Schacht, Momy Seck, Simon Senghor, Susanne H. Sokolow & Caitlin Wolfe