About the Concept of an Ecological Footprint
The ecological footprint measures the demand that humanity puts on Earth's biosphere, which includes plants, animals and all other living organisms on the planet. Since the 1970s, humans have used far more resources than Earth can regenerate.
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Features
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The ecological footprint measures the area of water and land a population needs to produce resources and to absorb its waste. The measure is scalable and can be applied to an individual, town, city or country or the entire human population.
Significance
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The ecological footprint shows that humankind is using Earth's resources at an alarming rate. It now takes the planet one year and six months to renew what the human population uses in one year. This is known as "ecological overshoot."
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Benefits
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The global footprint is widely used by governments, business, environment agencies and scientists to monitor the effect of resource use. This raises awareness of ecological and environmental issues, and helps planners set targets for sustainable development.
History
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William Rees and Mathis Wackernagel devised the ecological footprint method at the University of British Columbia in 1990. The measure has since developed and is now internationally standardized by the Global Footprint Network and its partner organizations.
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- Photo Credit Globe illustration of planet Earth image by Sergey Nikolaev from Fotolia.com
