Monday, December 1, 2008 - forestrynepal.org

Ecological Footprint

Ecological Footprint is a resource management tool that measures how much land and water area a human population requires to produce the resources it consumes and to absorb its wastes under prevailing technology.

Today, humanity's Ecological Footprint is over 23% larger than what the planet can regenerate. In other words, it now takes more than one year and two months for the Earth to regenerate what we use in a single year.

 

 

 

Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity



World Asia-Pacific Nepal
Population (millions) 6,225.0 3,448.4 24.6
Total Ecological Footprint (global ha/person) 2.2 1.3 0.6
Total food, fiber, and timber Footprint (global ha/person) 0.9 0.6 0.4
Included in food, fiber, and timber Cropland (global ha/person) 0.49 0.38 0.33
Forest (global ha/person) 0.17 0.07 0.04
Grazing land (global ha/person) 0.14 0.06 0.05
Fishing ground (global ha/person) 0.14 0.11 0.00
Total energy Footprint (global ha/person) 1.2 0.6 0.1
Included in total energy CO2 from fossil fuels (global ha/person) 1.05 0.56 0.03
Fuelwood (global ha/person) 0.06 0.05 0.11
Nuclear (global ha/person) 0.09 0.03 0.00
Hydro (global ha/person) 0.00 0.00 0.00
Built-up land (global ha/person) 0.1 0.1 0.0
Total Biocapacity* (global ha/person) 1.8 0.7 0.5
Included in total Biocapacity* Cropland (global ha/person) 0.52 0.33 0.27
Grazing land (global ha/person) 0.27 0.08 0.05
Forest (global ha/person) 0.80 0.17 0.08
Fishing ground (global ha/person) 0.13 0.09 0.00
Ecological Deficit or Reserve** (global ha/person) -0.4 -0.6 -0.2
* Built-up land is included in both Total Footprint and Total Biocapacity (by definition, Footprint and Biocapacity are equal for built-up land).
** Negative numbers indicate an Ecological Deficit, positive numbers an Ecological Reserve

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