ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT AN]) APPROPRIAThD CARRYING CAPACITY: A TOOL FOR PLANNING TOWARD SUSTAINABILITY by MATHIS WACKERNAGEL Dip!. Ing., The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ZUrich, 1988 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (School of Community and Regional Planning) We accept this thesis as conforming to the r ired standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA October 1994 © Mathis Wackernagel, 1994 advanced In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an Library shall make it degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the that permission for extensive freely available for reference and study. I further agree copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of my department or by his or her representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. (Signature) ejb’i’t/ Pios-ii’ii &toof of C iwivry Gf (i l r€dva k hi di’e The University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada Date O 6) ) DE-6 (2/88) ABSThACT There is mounting evidence that the ecosystems of Earth cannot sustain current levels of economic activity, let alone increased levels. Since some consume Earth’s resources at a rate that will leave little for future generations, while others still live in debilitating poverty, the UN’s World Commission on Environment and Economic Development has called for development that is sustainable. The purpose of this thesis is to further develop and test a planning tool that can assist in translating the concern about the sustainability crisis into public action. The research advances the concept of “Ecological Footprint” or “Appropriated Carrying Capacity” (EF/ACC) as a planning tool for conceptualizing and developing sustainability. To meet this purpose, I document the development of the EF/ACC concept, explore its potential use in public decision- making towards sustainability, apply the concept in a real world context, and finally, empirically analyze its usefulness to actors in the public domain. The research shows that the EF/ACC concept can link global social and ecological concerns to individual and institutional decision-making. Though the tool needs further refinement to make it readily applicable to the planning practitioners’ everyday decisions, it has proved useful as a conceptual tool for framing the sustainabiity challenges. More than 20 EF/ACC applications, by others and by me, range from environmental outdoor education for children to policy and project assessments for municipalities and regions. With these examples, EF/ACC has contributed to translating sustainability into concrete terms and to providing direction for planning toward sustainability. II TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ii Table of Contents iii List of Tables vii List of Figures viii Acknowledgement . ix INTRODUCTION A. The Challenge 1 B. The Purpose of this Thesis Research 4 C. Structure of the Thesis’ Presentation 6 D. Scope of the Thesis 7 E. Significance of the Thesis 9 II. THE SUSTAINABILITY CRISIS: EXPLORING ITS FACETS AND LINKING ITS THEMES 10 A. Why Worry? Examining the Sustainabiity Crisis 11 1. The ecological crisis 13 2. The socioeconomic crisis 21 3. The political crisis 23 4. The epistemological crisis 28 5. The psychological crisis 38 B. Making the Connections: The Common Theme of the Sustainability Crisis 42 C. Reacting to the Crisis: Exploring the Necessary Conditions for Sustainability 50 1. The ecological bottom-line for sustainabiity: a case for strong sustainability 52 2. The socioeconomic conditions for sustainability . 55 3. The political conditions for sustainability 57 4. The epistemological conditions for sustainability . * 57 5. The psychological conditions for sustainability . 58 D. Developing Sustainability: The Need for Planning Tools that Can Translate Sustainability Concerns into Effective Action 60 111 III. ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT OR APPROPRIATED CARRYING CAPACITY: DEVELOPING A TOOL FOR PLANNING TOWARD SUSTAINABILITY .. 62 A. The Conceptual Foundation of EF/ACC 62 1. Assessing natural capital 62 2. Defining EF/ACC 67 3. EF/ACC and its conceptual ancestors 69 4. EF/ACC and its conceptual siblings 71 B. The Five Rationales for EF/ACC 78 1. Ecological rationale 78 2. Socioeconomic rationale 84 3. Political rationale 88 4. Epistemological rationale 91 5. Psychological rationale 95 IV. DEVELOPING A CALCULATION PROCEDURE FOR ASSESSING EF/ACC OF AN ECONOMY 97 A. Establishing an Operational EF/ACC Definition 97 B. Outlining the Calculation Procedure 100 1. The land-use of consumption 100 2. Consumption categories 101 3. Land and land-use categories 102 4. The matrix 111 C. Adopting the Calculation Procedure to Specific Applications . 114 V. ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF PEOPLE, THEIR CONSUMPTION AN]) THEIR TECHNOLOGY: EF/ACC APPLICATIONS 117 A. The Appropriated Carrying Capacity of an Average Canadian . 117 1. The purpose of this calculation . 117 2. The calculation procedure 118 3. Examples of translating consumption into land-use 120 4. Results and comparisons 122 5. The precision of EF/ACC estimate 126 B. Other EF/ACC Applications 127 1. Technology assessment 128 2. Local and regional decision-making 129 3. National and international decision-making 132 4. Social equity 134 5. Social behaviour and public education 136 iv VI. EXPLORING EF/ACC’S USEFULNESS FOR PLANNING TOWARD SUSTAINABILITY 139 A. Measuring “Usefulness” 139 1. Choosing interviewing as the research method . 139 2. Establishing two scales 141 3. Identifying potential barriers to the EFIACC tool 143 4. Selecting key informants 146 5. Developing an interview questionnaire 150 6. The process of the questionnaire-based interview research 155 7. Limitations of this interview research 156 B. Documenting the Interview Results 159 1. The key informants’ understanding of sustainability 160 2. The key informants’ support for the EF/ACC concept 165 C. Analyzing the Interview Results 175 1. Evaluating EF/ACC’s usefulness 176 2. Evaluating the interview process as an EF/ACC application 188 VII. CONCLUSION 193 A. Conclusion with Respect to the Research Objectives 193 B. Suggested Areas for Further Research 199 1. Tool improvements: including all competing uses of nature 200 2. Local applications: analyzing the impact of settlement patterns and consumption 201 3. Larger scale applications: analyzing the impact of regional and national policies 203 4. Communication: making the tool and its ideas more accessible 206 5. Behavioral analyses: exploring the social psychology of the sustainability crisis 207 C. Implications of the EF/ACC Tool for Planning 208 1. Creating public awareness 209 2. Planning for sustainable national and international development 213 3. Planning sustainable communities 216 BIBLIOGRAPHY 219 V . APPENDICES 246 Appendix 1: Land Area Equivalent for Fossil Fuel: Three Calculation Approaches 247 Appendix 1.1: Energy-Land Equivalence Ratio Based on Ethanol Production 248 Appendix 1.2: Energy-Land Equivalence Ratio Based on CO2 Absorption 252 Appendix 1.3: Energy-Land Equivalence Ratio Based on Creating Renewable Substitutes 255 Appendix 2: Background Data for the Land-use Consumption Matrix 257 Appendix 2.1: Data for Calculating the Average Canadian Footprint 258 Appendix 2.2: Supplementary Tables on Food Consumption and Energy 292 Appendix 2.3: Data References (for Data in Appendix 2) 303 Appendix 2.4: Abbreviations and Units 307 Appendix 3: Interview Research 308 Appendix 3.1: Summary of Draft Handbook Reviews 309 Appendix 3.2: List of the Interviewed Key Informants 310 Appendix 3.3: The Questionnaire 311 Appendix 3.4: Excerpts from the Answers of the Key Informants . 325 vi 101 LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1 The five main consumption categories Table 4.2 The eight main land and land-use categories 103 Table 5.1 The consumption land-use matrix 123 Table 6.1 Scales for sustainability perspectives and EF/ACC support 142 Table 6.2 Structure of the interviews 152 Table A1.1 Comparing results of various ethanol productivity studies 251 Table A1.2 CO2 sequestering by forest ecosystems 253 Table A2. 1 General data 292 Table A2.2 Canadian crop production and consumption 295 Table A2.3 Canadian animal products and their consumption 297 Table A2.4 Food supply and caloric value for an average Canadian 298 Table A2.5 Embodied energy in various materials 299 Table A2.6 Consumption energy conversion 300 Table A2.7 Specific energy content 301 Table A2.8 Approximate conversion ratios for biomass productivity 302 vi’ LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1 Three spheres of health 51 Figure 6.1 Distribution of key informants according to their sustainability understanding and support for the EF/ACC tool 177 Figure 7.1 David Pearce’s “policy wedge” to decouple consumption from resource throughput 205 viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Studying in Vancouver at the School of Community and Regional Planning was a rich and enjoyable experience. I felt fortunate about being surrounded by nature’s beauty and, even more, about being embedded in a community of caring and supportive friends. Especially grateful am I to my academic friends and mentors, first and foremost my supervisor and “Doktorvater Bill Rees, but also the other committee members Peter Boothroyd, Tom Hutton and Bob Woollard. In addition, I was generously supported by the UBC Task Force on Healthy and Sustainable Communities, particularly by its coordinator Janette McIntosh as well as by the other members of the Task Force composed of my committee (but Tom), Larry Green, Clyde Hertzman, Judy Lynam, and Sharon Manson-Singer who all stimulated and encouraged my research. Also many people in the Vancouver area who I met through my work with the Task Force or who I interviewed for my research provided me with many insights and much inspiration. Further I would like to thank my other friends from Community Alternatives, from the School of Community and Regional Planning and the Centre for Human Settlements, from International House, and the friends who I have met through them.