Footprint

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Footprint
Reducing Risks by Setting Measurable Targets
Dr. Mathis Wackernagel
www.FootprintNetwork.org
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House
Are we getting to big for our house?
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Global equity
Who is getting what?
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If everyone lived like us we would need
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One hectare
How big is a hectare?
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People vs. nature
What about land for other species?
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Metabolism like a cow
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Bioproductive Segments
67 Low-Productivity Ocean
Bioproductive segments
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4 Biologically Productive Ocean
11 Deserts, Ice Caps and Barren Land
18 Biologically Productive Land
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Personal planetoid
Global average availability of bioproductive Land
Sea 1.9 global hectares/person
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Footprint components
Fossil Fuel Built-up Waste Food
Fibres
absorption
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Global Footprint
Global Footprint Accounts (in global
hectares/person, 1999 data)
Ecological Demand (Ecological Footprint) Ecologica
l Supply (Biocapacity) Footprint Areas
for Biocapacity Areas Growing
Crops 0.53 Crop land 0.53 Grazing
Animals 0.12 Grazing land 0.27 Settlements
infrastructure 0.10 Built-up area 0.10 Producing
timber fuelwood 0.33 Forest 0.86 Absorbing
excess CO2 1.07 Harvesting Fish 0.14 Fishing
Grounds 0.14 Total Global Demand 2.29 Total
Global Supply 1.90
Demand Exceeds Supply By 20 gt
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Footprint data for 8 countries
Footprint data for 8 countries
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Footprint time series
Footprint time series
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Target
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Median Scenario (UN/IPCC/FAO)
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EF Used for Scenario Analysis
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Ecological Debt in 4 Scenarios
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Shrink Share by Region
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Implications for continents?
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What Does this Open up?

• Accounting leads to accountability
• Targets informed by risks associated with
  different scenarios
• 2 simple choices integrating climate change and
  biocapacity
• Performance measure

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Cat on Roman foot
Mathis_at_FootprintNetwork.org
www.FootprintNetwork.org
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How big are YOUR feet??An ecological footprint
is the amount of land used to support consumption
and waste production.
University of Toronto at Mississauga
TRANSPORTATION footprint takes up 1347.64
hectares

A one lane highway stretching from TORONTO TO
ORLANDO, FLORIDA AND BACK

• What can YOU do to reduce YOUR footprint?
• Walk or bike when you can try out BIKESHARE!
  At the student center
• Take public transit, or carpool to school
• Buy a fuel efficient vehicle

Visit http//geog.utm.utoronto.ca/ecofootprint/
for more details
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How big are YOUR feet??An ecological footprint
is the amount of land used to support consumption
and waste production.

• UTMs WASTE AND MATERIALS footprint takes up
  352.39 hectares
• A stack of 8.5 x 11 sheets of paper 4.7
  KILOMETERS high
• What can YOU do to reduce YOUR footprint?
• Print double sided at the library
• Print two or four pages to a sheet
• Use reusable containers for food and drinks

Visit http//geog.utm.utoronto.ca/ecofootprint/
for more details
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How big are YOUR feet??An ecological footprint
is the amount of land used to support consumption
and waste production.
UTMs FOOD use has a footprint of 798.7 hectares

2198 tonnes of wheat, enough to make 3 MILLION
LOAVES OF BREAD

• What can YOU do to reduce YOUR footprint?
• Dont waste food
• Buy locally grown food
• Eat less meat meat uses more resources than
  other foods

Visit http//geog.utm.utoronto.ca/ecofootprint/
for more details
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How big are YOUR feet??An ecological footprint
is the amount of land used to support consumption
and waste production.
UTMs ENERGY footprint is 6067.5 hectares

• A land area BIGGER THAN MANHATTAN
• What can YOU do to reduce your footprint?
• Turn off your computer or TV when youre not
  using it
• Turn off all lights when youre not in the room
• Put on a sweater instead of turning up the heat

Visit http//geog.utm.utoronto.ca/ecofootprint/
for more details
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How big are YOUR feet??An ecological footprint
is the amount of land used to support consumption
and waste production.
UTMs WATER use footprint is 19.8 hectares

• 158 OLYMPIC-SIZED SWIMMING POOLS
• What can YOU do to reduce YOUR footprint?
• Dont let the water run when washing your hands
• Take short showers
• Only do laundry or run the dishwasher when you
  have a full load

Visit http//geog.utm.utoronto.ca/ecofootprint/
for more details
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http//www.endowmentinstitute.org/
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http//ecofoot.org/

• For example, each resident of a city is
  responsible for a portion of the citys
  infrastructure, such as roads, schools, and
  government offices, regardless of whether the
  resident uses those services.
• path to reducing your Footprint is to advocate
  for more sustainable decisions at all levels of
  government
• How accurate is the Footprint Quiz?
• We consistently use conservative estimates in
  Footprint calculations. As a result they tend to
  underestimate human demand on nature. Also, as
  discussed under "pollution and toxics," various
  aspects for which data is scarce are not yet
  included in footprints, making them appear
  smaller than they really are.
• www.kidsfootprint.org.

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What Size Shoe Do You Wear?Genuine Progress
Index for Atlantic CanadaIndice de progrès
véritable - AtlantiqueOctober, 2002
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Ecological Footprint

• The amount of productive land and water a given
  population requires to produce all the resources
  they consume and take in all the waste they make
  using prevailing technology (Onisto et al. 1998)
• From a school perspective - EF The space
  required to support all the inputs and outputs
  of the school body.

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Sustainability Model

• We can calculate how much biological productive
  area we have.
• We can calculate how much we are using.
• Living sustainable means that we are not living
  beyond what is available.

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Measurements of Sustainable Development

• Generally look at the supply side of the
  equation. Such measurements put the whole onus
  for sustainable development on the producer.
• The ecological footprint looks at the demand
  side of the equation and places responsibility
  for sustainable development not only on the
  producer but on the consumer.

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Components of the Ecological Footprint(six human
activities that require space)

• Growing Crops
• Grazing Animals
• Harvesting Timber
• Catching Fish
• Accommodating Infrastructure (housing,
  transportation systems, industry, built up land)
• Absorbing Carbon Dioxide Emissions (burning
  fossil fuels)

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• A regions (person, school) ecological footprint
  is the total area required to produce the food
  and fibers that a region consumes, sustain its
  energy consumption, and give space for its
  infrastructure.
• People consume resources from all over the world,
  so their footprint can be thought of as the sum
  of these areas, wherever they are on the planet.

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The Bottom Line

• 2.3 hectares of of biologically productive land
  and sea per person
• set aside 12 as recommended by the Bruntland
  Commission to protect biodiversity
• 2.0 hectares per person

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Global Context

• United States 9.7 ha/capita
• Canada 8.4 ha/capita
• - NS - 8.1 ha/capita
• - AB - 7.9 ha/capita
• France 5.3 ha/capita
• Japan 4.8 ha/capita
• Zimbabwe 1.3 ha/capita
• Bangladesh 0.5 ha/capita
• Global Average 2.3 hectares/capita

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Ecological Footprint By Region (1996)

• The size of each box is proportional to the
  aggregate footprint of each region.
• The height of each box is propo rtional to the
  region's average ecological footprint per person
  and
• The width of the box is proportional to the
  population of the region.
• (The OECD and non-OECD columns refer only to
  average ecological footprint per person).

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Ecological FootprintNova Scotia and Canada,
1961-1999
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EF Applications

• Region (country, province, town, university
  campus)
• Personal Ecological Footprint (redefining
  progress, mountain equipment co-op)
• Competing technologies (fuel cells)
• Growing Techniques (field tomato vs. hydroponic
  tomato)
• Policy decisions (rail vs. road, urban planning
  decisions)
• Purchase decisions (cradle to grave)
• Other (big mac, aquaculture, newspaper)

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Ecological Footprint in Use

• Teach concepts of sustainability, environmental
  issues, responsibility.
• Benchmark of School Sustainability (define
  current state, assess progress -- footprint
  increase? Footprint decrease?)
• Means of Comparison (between schools, between
  grades, students vs. teachers)
• Promote holistic decision making

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Messages Behind the EF

• Not all Footprints are equal
• Recap
• Average ecological space available per global
  citizen 2.0 ha/cap
• Average N.S ecological footprint 8.1 ha/cap

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• Countries such as the United States, Australia,
  Canada, Singapore, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and
  Sweden occupy footprints over 200 greater than
  the 2.0 ha available per global citizen. This is
  dramatically contrasted to Bangladesh, Ethiopia,
  Pakistan, India, and Nigeria with footprints of 1
  ha or less per capita.

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• The richest fifth
• account for 86 of total private consumption
  expenditures, the poorest fifth 1.3.
• consume 45 of all meat and fish, the poorest
  fifth 5
• consume 58 of total energy, the poorest fifth
  less than 4
• consume 84 of all paper, the poorest fifth 1.1
• own 87 of the worlds vehicle fleet, the poorest
  fifth less than 1 (UNDP, 1998).

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• In a world of limited resources and limited
  waste assimilation capacity, excess consumption
  by the rich literally requires that others live
  in poverty if we are not to exceed the Earths
  physical carrying capacity.
• Ecological footprint analysis cuts through
  the illusion that we can improve the living
  standards of the poor without curbing the excess
  consumption of the rich.

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Websites GPI Atlantic www.gpiatlantic.org
(Nova Scotia Ecological Footprint) Pembina
Institute www.pembina.org (Alberta Ecological
Footprint) Redefining Progress -
www.rprogress.org (Foundation site of ecological
footprint work) WWF International -
www.panda.org (Living Planet Report)
  Litterature  Lewan, Lillemor., Wackernagel,
Mathis., and Carina Borgstrom Hansson, 1999.
Evaluating The Use of Natural Capital With
Ecological Footprint Applications In Sweden and
Subregions. Ph.D. work.   Wackernagel, Mathis,
and William E. Rees, 1996. Our Ecological
Footprint Reducing Human Impact on the Earth.
New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island, BC. For
details on the book, see www.newsociety.com/oef.ht
ml.   Wackernagel, Mathis, Larry Onisto,
Alejandro Callejas Linares, Ina Susana López
Falfán, Jesus Méndez García, Ana Isabel Suárez
Guerrero, Ma. Guadalupe Suárez Guerrero, 1997.
Ecological Footprints of Nations How Much
Nature Do They Use? How Much Nature Do They Have?
Commissioned by the Earth Council for the Rio5
Forum. International Council for Local
Environmental Initiatives, Toronto.   Wackernagel,
Mathis, 1998). "The Ecological Footprint of
Santiago de Chile," Local Environment, Vol 3,,
No. 2.   Wackernagel, Mathis., Onisto, Larry.,
Patricia Bello, Callejas Linares, A.,Ina, López
Falfán, I.S., Méndez García, J., Suárez Guerrero,
A.I., and Suárez Guerrero, M.G., 1999. "National
natural capital accounting with the ecological
footprint concept," Ecological Economics, Vol.
29, pp. 375-390.