The Ecological Footprint The only metric that measures how much nature we have and how much nature we use Adapted from “Footprint Network.” Global Footprint Network, www.footprintnetwork.org/. The Ecological Footprint measures the demand on and supply of nature. The demand is how fast we consume resources and create waste (especially carbon emissions). The Ecological Footprint tracks the use of six categories of productive surface areas: cropland, grazing land, fishing grounds, built-up land, forest area, and carbon demand on land. The supply is also known biocapacity or the productivity of the land. The land’s ability to renew/replace what is used and absorb the waste. Both the Ecological Footprint and biocapacity are expressed in global hectares (gha) —comparable, standardized units of world average productivity. Each city, state or nation’s Ecological Footprint can be compared to its biocapacity. If a population’s Ecological Footprint exceeds the region’s biocapacity, that region runs an ecological deficit. Its demand for the goods and services that its land and seas can provide—fruits and vegetables, meat, fish, wood, cotton for clothing, and carbon dioxide absorption—exceeds what the region’s ecosystems can renew. A region in ecological deficit meets demand by importing, using up all of its resources (such as overfishing), and/or emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. If a region’s biocapacity exceeds its Ecological Footprint, it has an ecological reserve. The world’s ecological deficit is referred to as overshoot. Since the 1970s, humanity has been in ecological overshoot, with annual demand on resources exceeding what Earth can regenerate each year. Today humanity uses the equivalent of 1.7 Earths to provide the resources we use and absorb our waste. This means it now takes the Earth one year and six months to regenerate what we use in a year. We use more ecological resources and services than nature can regenerate through overfishing, overharvesting forests, and emitting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than forests can sequester (take in through photosynthesis). Each country has its own ecological risk profile: The majority of countries are running ecological deficits, demanding more from nature than their ecosystems can regenerate. Others depend heavily on resources from elsewhere, which are under increasing pressure. The Ecological Footprint is a resource accounting tool that helps countries manage their ecological resources and secure their future. Communities and city planners around the globe use our tools to guide land use and budget decisions, track sustainability progress, and support better sustainability policy and actions Human demand on the Earth’s ecosystems is projected to exceed what nature can regenerate by about 75 percent by 2020. We must begin to factor this into our decision-making and use human ingenuity to find new ways to live well, within the Earth’s bounds. This means investing in technology and infrastructure that will allow us to operate in a resource-constrained world. It means taking individual action, and creating the public demand for businesses and policy makers to participate. Important Vocabulary 1. Ecological Footprint: A measure of how much area of biologically productive land and water an individual, population or activity requires to produce all the resources it consumes and to absorb the waste it generates. The Ecological Footprint is usually measured in global hectares (gha) 2. Carbon Footprint: The carbon Footprint measures CO2 emissions associated with fossil fuel use. In Ecological Footprint accounts, these amounts are converted into biologically productive areas necessary for absorbing this CO2. The carbon Footprint is added to the Ecological Footprint because it is a competing use of space, since increasing CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere is considered to represent a build-up of ecological debt. 3. Global Hectare: The unit used to measure Ecological Footprint & biocapacity. 4. Biological capacity (biocapacity): Biocapacity is the ecosystem’s ability to produce materials used by people and to absorb waste material generated by humans. 5. Overshoot: Global overshoot occurs when humanity’s demand on nature exceeds the biosphere’s supply, or biocapacity. Such overshoot leads to a depletion of Earth’s life supporting natural capital and a buildup of waste. .