How much nature do we have, compared with how much we use? What are nature’s ecological limits and how can we stay within them? The most rigorous and useful way of measuring natures ecological limits and how we can stay within them is through ecological footprint analysis.

 

In 1996 the Canadian ecologist William Rees and his colleague Mathis Wackernagel developed the concept of the ecological footprint.  This emerging methodology aimed to represent simply and communicate effectively issues of environmental impact and sustainability

 

The ecological footprint tool can help us to react and avoid unnecessary destruction and suffering.  In the past, new thinking about the world has helped humanity become more enlightened.  Now too, we need different tools to react to new challenges.  Ecological insufficiency is a reality; it is not a product of the footprint calculation, but merely a conclusion.  The Footprint analysis helps to identify areas that are good for sustainability; there are many examples in the world of people, groups and even societies that have been able to secure a high quality of life on impressively small footprints.

 

‘The ecological footprint of the world’s average consumer in 1999 was 2.3 hectares per person, 20% above the planets’ biological capacity of 1.9 hectares per person. In other words, humanity now exceeds the planets’ capacity to sustain its consumption of renewable resources’ ^[1]

 

The footprint expresses the land area that is required to feed us, provide resources, produce energy, assimilate wasted, and to re-absorb the greenhouse gases produced by our use of fossil fuels.

 

Nature provides us with a steady supply of the basic requirements for life. We need energy for heat and mobility, wood for housing and paper products, and nutritious food and clean water for healthy living.  The Ecological footprint accounts for the flows of energy and matter to and from any defined economy and converts the corresponding land/water area required from nature or acquired through commercial trade from all over the world to support these flows.

The ecological footprint concept is based on the idea that for every item of material or energy consumption, a certain amount of land in one or more ecosystem categories is required to provide the consumption-related resource flows and waste sinks.

For the purposes of the ecological footprint calculation, land and sea area is divided into four basics types; bio-productive land, bio-productive sea, energy land, built land and the fifth refers to the area of land and water set aside to preserve biodiversity.

Bio-productive land is a combination; Cropland, land that is fit or used for growing crops. Pasture land for dairy, meat and wool production. Forest, land committed to providing forest products.

Bio-Productive sea, Valuable fishing grounds.

Energy land is the amount of carbon sink land required to assimilate the fossil CO² that we are injecting into the atmosphere. Fossil carbon cannot be allowed to accumulate in the atmosphere if we wish to avoid possible climate change. Data on typical forest productivities of temperate, boreal and tropical rainforests show that average forests can accumulate approximately 1.8 tonnes of carbon per hectare per annum. [2]  This means that one hectare of average forest can sequester annually the CO² emissions generated by the consumption of 100 giga-joules of fossil fuel.

 

Energy land does not incorporate Nuclear energy, it is seen as a short-term solution and the problem of radioactive waste becomes an irresponsible burden for future generations.

 

Built land is buildings and roads, any bit of land that has been built upon, badly eroded or otherwise degraded land that is considered to have been consumed since it is no longer biologically productive.

 

Biodiversity land, this represents the area required to be set aside for the preservation of non-human species.