accounting tool
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Ecological Footprint. Accounting Tool for Sustainability Balance between: Resource demand: How much of the biosphere’s regenerative capacity is used by human activities? - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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Accounting Tool for Sustainability
Balance between:• Resource demand: How much of the biosphere’s
regenerative capacity is used by human activities?
• Resource supply: How much regenerative capacity is available?
Ecological Footprint
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‘Biosphere regenerative capacity’
• Capacity of soil, water, plants, animals, micro-organisms to provide resources without being exhausted.
• EG soil to grow food without eroding/losing fertility, forests to regrow after felling, fish stocks to build up after harvesting
• EG surface and groundwater to provide drinking, industry, crop irrigation etc supply
• Capacity for vegetation to absorb CO2, water to break down pollutants to harmless substances
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Energy assumed to be the biggest problem
• Climate change associated with rising GHGs assumed to be the biggest current threat to biosphere regenerative capacity
• Energy production and consumption given greatest weighting
• ‘Carbon footprint’ focuses solely on GHG emissions [not covered here]
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Overhang assumptionWe can use biosphere resources eg fish, timber, soil, water, oil, gas etc faster than:
(1) they can regenerate,
(2) our waste products can be assimilated [ie not accumulate in toxic/damaging concentrations in air, water, on land].
But only for while.. Eventually either they run out, or we pollute our planet with very bad consequences for our wellbeing
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• We measure the mutually exclusive types of areas necessary to produce the resources we consume and absorb the waste we produce.
• The unit is a global hectare [gha] (10 000 m²), with the average productivity of the world’s bio-productive surface (ocean and land). Assumes everybody on Earth is entitled to equal share of global resources
Ecological Footprint
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Footprint components
Fossilenergie verbaute Abfall Nahrung Holz und Faser Fläche W.Pekny, Plattform Footprint
Ecological Footprint
Fossil Fuel Built-up Waste Food Fibres, Firewood absorption
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• Non renewable fossil fuels impacts are calculated with the area necessary to absorb the emitted CO2 (forest and oceans).
• Note each piece of land is assumed to have only one effect. Eg forest land to absorb carbon dioxide does not also provide timber, fish etc
• Many methodological issues arise
Ecological Footprint
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Bioproductive segments
18% productive land 11%
Deserts, ice
67% Oceans with low productivity
4% Oceans with high productivity
22%
Biocapacity
13.4 B hectares
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• The very complex ecological inter-relations are summarized to simple parameter: area.
• The strength of the concept is the obvious and indisputable limit of area on planet Earth.
• No matter how much money, houses, industries we have, we need biocapacity to survive
Ecological Footprint
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Footprint
The only sustainabilitymetric with an undisputable maximum value: one Earth.
13.4B ha bio productive
area
Ecological Footprint
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Assuming a fair allocation of area, there is about
1.8 gha available per person today (not including any area for biodiversity)
• The average European citizen requires 4.8 gha to meet his/her material demands. (US citizen 9.6 gha)
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For all people to live like Europeans
would require 2.5 planets
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Sustainable scenario
Standard scenario
Human Ecological Footprint, 1950-2050
Source: Ecological Footprint of Europe WWF2008
Absolute Limits
Humankind uses an equivalent of 1.4 EarthsWe no longer get along with the interest Earth provides.We use the capital stocks.
+ 40% in 2008
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Source: GFN Daten update 2008
Sustainable scenario
Standard scenario
Human Ecological Footprint, 1950-2050
By 2050, the ecological debts would equal about 34 years of planetary production
Absolute Limits
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WWF Living Planet Report 2008
D A
National Footprints Figures in gha/capita
Austria
Germany
Switzerland
Worldavailable
China
Ireland tenth
Slovenia
Hungary
Built landFishingForestPastureArable landCarbon Footprint
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WWF Living Planet Report 2008
National Footprints
figures in gha/capita
China 1330
Pakistan158
India1100
Nigeria 130 Indonesia
223
Bangladesh142
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National Footprint
Aggregated Footprintper capita
ComponentFootprint
Top Down- Regional Footprints- City Footprints- Individual Footprint
Bottom Up- Energy Footprint- Transport Footprint- Carbon Footprint
Product Footprints
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Summary 1• In relation to region/Earth’s capacity to
provide us with energy, food, living space, assimilate wastes, can measure whether we are using resources faster than are being renewed
• gha unit: big success, many organisations, countries, companies have adopted it as key indicator for measuring sustainability
• Raising general awareness: many people believe they understand what the EF measures
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Summary 2
Socio-economics not included
Toxic substances not included
One aggregated figure: not much use for prioritising policies
Awareness/behaviour divide
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What EF can do for us…• Measure resource demand and supply.• Show us where we are using resources too
quickly.• Highlight which land type is used most
intensively.• Provides a basis for comparing overall
resource demand amongst settlements, regions and countries.
• Provides a personal account of the resource demand of an individual’s lifestyle.
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What EF cannot do for us…
• Show us why we are using resources too quickly.
• Help with finding policies to reduce our consumption [other than the general policy: ‘we must use less’].
• Take account of other impacts on the environment eg mercury pollution, ozone depletion [ie it UNDERESTIMATES our overall impact on the Earth].
• Tell us about the impact of resource consumption on human health and wellbeing.
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Take this quiz to estimate your Ecological Footprint
www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/.../calculators/
ORSearch words: calculate your ecological
footprint