Gheewala named Frontiers Planet Prize champion for rice warning research

SHABBIR GHEEWALA is in the running to win a US$1m prize to advance his systems thinking research after being named a national champion by the Frontiers Planet Prize for a paper he published in an IChemE journal.

The Frontiers Planet Prize has named 19 national champions whose research can be scaled up to help humanity stay within nine crucial planetary boundaries that if crossed could lead to disastrous, runaway environmental change.

Gheewala’s research, published in IChemE’s Sustainable Production and Consumption journal, used a planetary boundary-based life cycle assessment to show that rice production in Pakistan is already overstepping several boundaries including for freshwater eutrophication and water use. Gheewala and his co-authors say the method can be used to pinpoint problem human activities and prioritise ways to fix them, in this case using solar-powered irrigation and growing varieties of rice that mature faster with higher yields.

Jean-Claude Burgelman, director of the Frontiers Planet Prize, said: “Faced with immense threats to people and planet, we need bold, transformative solutions, rooted in evidence and validated by science. Innovative yet scalable solutions are the only way for us to ensure healthy lives on a healthy planet. By spotlighting the most groundbreaking research, we are helping scientists bring their work to the international stage.”

To promote the work of the champions and spur systemic change, organisations including the International Science Council will provide opportunities for them to share their research at international conferences.

Gheewala, who is professor of the life cycle sustainability assessment lab at Thailand’s King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, said: “I hope that through this award, I can further promote awareness of systems thinking which I have been doing for the last quarter century at a more modest scale. This way of thinking is not restricted to a specific field but is essential for any research.

“A substantial part of my research is moving in the direction of exploring the connection of life cycle assessment with the planetary boundaries, to look at environmental sustainability in absolute terms. Two of my postdoctoral researchers will be working on this theme and I hope I can establish a research centre for absolute sustainability-related research.”

Adisa Azapagic, founding editor-in-chief of Sustainable Production and Consumption, said: “On behalf of the journal editorial team, I congratulate the authors on this prestigious recognition. This prize is significant not only for the authors but also for the journal, as it testifies to the high quality of papers we publish and their real-world impact.”

Later this month, three of the 19 winners will be named international champions, and each will be awarded US$1m to accelerate their research.

The 19 national champions were selected by an independent jury of 100 Earth system science and planetary health experts, chaired by professor Johan Rockström who led the development of the Planetary Boundaries Framework.

In 2023, Rockström said that six of the nine boundaries, including chemical pollution and freshwater change, have already been crossed, warning that “Earth is now well outside of the safe operating space for humanity”.