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View our Cookie Policy. I accept. Toggle navigation. Language English. But how many resources do we consume? This question can be answered using the Ecological Footprint. The Ecological Footprint can be calculated for a single individual , city , region, country and the entire planet. These calculators may offer interesting insights but they are not aligned with the international Ecological Footprint Standards , which were adopted in in order to ensure that Footprint studies were both credible and consistent.
Approximately 90 percent of all leading Ecological Footprint practitioners worldwide have joined Global Footprint Network and have agreed to adhere to these standards and to use a common set of data. For globally comparable and credible Ecological Footprint calculator results, look for transparent information on the methodology used, and check to see if the calculator was created by a Global Footprint Network partner, as partnership requires compliance with Ecological Footprint standards.
Biocapacity is shorthand for biological capacity, which is the ability of an ecosystem to produce useful biological materials and to absorb carbon dioxide emissions. Ecological Footprints can be calculated for individual people, groups of people such as a nation , and activities such as manufacturing a product. All of these materials and wastes are then individually translated into an equivalent number of global hectares.
To accomplish this, an amount of material consumed by that person tonnes per year is divided by the yield of the specific land or sea area annual tonnes per hectare from which it was harvested, or where its waste material was absorbed.
The number of hectares that result from this calculation are then converted to global hectares using yield and equivalence factors. The Ecological Footprint of a group of people, such as a city or nation, is simply the sum of the Ecological Footprint of all the residents of that city or nation.
What the economy produces plus all that is imported minus what the economy exports is the amount that population consumes.
The term Ecological Footprint, capitalized, is a proper name referring to a specific research question: how much of the biological capacity of the planet is required by a given human activity or population? There is a carbon component to the Ecological Footprint.
It measures the amount of biological capacity, in global hectares, demanded by human emissions of fossil carbon dioxide. The term Ecological Footprint has been deliberately excluded from trademark to encourage its widespread use. Global Footprint Network strives to maintain the value of this term by encouraging our partners and others using the word footprint or Ecological Footprint to apply the term consistently, using the definition found in the Ecological Footprint Standards.
Global Footprint Network encourages research answering different questions to be referred to as something other than Ecological Footprint. Carrying capacity is a technical term that refers to the maximum population of a species that a given land or marine area can support. Many species have easily defined and consistent consumption needs, making carrying capacity relatively easy to define and calculate. Ecological Footprint accounts approach the carrying capacity question from a different angle.
Ecological Footprints are not speculative estimates about a potential state, but rather are an accounting of the past. Instead of asking how many people could be supported on the planet, the Ecological Footprint asks the question in reverse and considers only present and past years. This is a scientific research and accounting question that can be answered through the analysis of documented, historical data sets. The Footprint tracks current human demand on nature in terms of the area required to supply the resources used and absorb the CO2 emitted in providing goods and services.
Trade is accounted for by allocating this demand to the country that ultimately consumes these goods and services. This accounting reflects import and export flows, but makes no judgment regarding the benefits, disadvantages or fairness of trade. The Ecological Footprint is therefore neither pro- nor anti-trade.
As new technologies come on line that affect biocapacity and resource-efficiency, their impact on resource supply and demand are reflected in biocapacity and Footprint assessments. In other words, the Footprint and biocapacity results reported in any given year are in part a function of the technology used in that year.
This accounting does not judge whether the use of a technology is positive or negative, but only shows how the technology impacts resource flows. Footprint assessments are historical rather than predictive, and make no judgment about the value of technologies that may become available in the future.
The Footprint approach is neither pro- nor anti-GDP. Gross Domestic Product GDP is an economic indicator used to track the annual value added to an economy. For a more comprehensive understanding of national trends, additional indicators are required—unemployment statistics, longevity figures, or ecological asset measures, for example. Global Footprint Network is working to have nations adopt the Ecological Footprint as a complement to, rather than as a substitute for, the GDP as a national indicator, in parallel with their use of the GDP.
Though they are often compared and contrasted, Ecological Footprints and Water Footprints are, as indicators, fundamentally incapable of being substituted. The Ecological Footprint does not, and is not intended to measure freshwater flows.
Because this is nevertheless a vital renewable resource, in , A. Hoekstra proposed that the Water Footprint be created as a sustainable water use indicator measuring the total volume of freshwater directly or indirectly used by a population.
In essence, the Ecological Footprint measures the biological capacity a population uses and the Water Footprint measures the freshwater a population uses. They each provide a different piece of information in the sustainability puzzle.
Instead of being seen as competing metrics, they should be seen as two complementary indicators of natural capital use in relation to human consumption.
For more information on the similarities and differences between the Ecological and Water Footprints, please consult A. The equivalence factor is the key factor that allows land of different types to be converted into the common unit of global hectares.
The equivalence factor itself is a productivity -based scaling factor that converts one hectare of world-average land of a specific land type, such as cropland or forest, into an equivalent number of global hectares. These equivalence factors are based on assessments of the relative productivity of land under different land types in any given year. The association also made available an online calculator , for everyone to calculate their own ecological footprint and Earth Overshoot Day.
How many planets would we need if everyone lived like you? Let us know with a comment! Millions of tourists are visiting places like Spain, Paris, London or Italy. With such a big industry, big responsibility is coming hand in hand …. Have you ever thought, what is […]. Cars, trucks, industries, home heating are the biggest causes of the air pollution. But there is also a less common one: the hamburger.
Small but very dangerous for the environment.
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