Module 10

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Module 10

• Ecological Footprint

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Agenda 21 Principle 7

• States shall cooperate in a spirit of global
  partnership to conserve, protect and restore the
  health and integrity of the Earth's ecosystems.
• Ecosystems are the productive engines of the
  planet, providing us with everything from the
  water we drink, the food we eat and the fibre we
  use for clothing, paper, and lumber.

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Learning Objectives

• Define the term ecological footprint
• Explain its relation to consumption of resources
  and waste production
• Know what factors are involved in ecological
  footprint calculations.
• Explain the concept of "energy land"

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Learning Objectives

• Explain the difference in the per capita EF
  between Canada, Netherlands and India 
• Explain what is meant by the term ecological
  deficit
• Describe an illustrative example
• Know what is meant by the term global
  eco-capacity
• Know what is meant by the term Earth Share

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Urban Life

• Most people in North America live in towns and
  cities.
• Urban life breaks the natural cycles of energy
  and material flows and we can easily forget about
  our connection with nature and ecosystems.
• We consume goods from all over the world and we
  tend to experience nature as a collection of
  commodities or a place for recreation rather than
  as the source of our well-being.

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Humans are Part of Nature

• Despite our estrangement from nature, we are very
  much part of nature.
• As we eat, drink and breath, we constantly
  exchange energy and matter with our environment.
• Food chains that support animal life including
  our own are based on plant photosynthesis.
• Nature absorbs our wastes and provides
  life-support services such as climate stability
  and protection from UV radiation.

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Hydrologic Cycle
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Carbon Cycle
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Nature and Economy
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Sustainable Living

• Sustainably means that
• We use the essential products and processes of
  nature no more quickly than they can be
  renewed/produced
• We discharge wastes no more quickly than they can
  be absorbed.
• Global eco-capacity is based on the
  sustainability of global ecosystems.

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Environmental IndicatorSoil Degradation
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Environmental IndicatorIncreasing Atmospheric
CO2
Data Source C.D. Keeling and T.P. Whorf,
Atmospheric CO2 Concentrations (ppmv) derived
from in situ air samples collected at Mauna Loa
Observatory, Hawaii, Scripps Institute of
Oceanography, August 1998. A. Neftel et al,
Historical CO2 Record from the Siple Station Ice
Core, Physics Institute, University of Bern,
Switzerland, September 1994. See
http//cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/trends/co2/contents.htm
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Carrying Capacity

• In wildlife management carrying capacity is
  defined as the maximum population of a given
  species that can be supported indefinitely in a
  specified habitat.

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Human Carrying Capacity

• The definition does apply so directly to humans
  because of our seeming ability to increase human
  carrying capacity by eliminating competing
  species, importing locally scarce resources, and
  through technology.

• However
• Every category of energy and material consumption
  and waste discharge requires the productive or
  absorptive capacity of a finite area of land.

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Ecological Footprint

• We can sum the land requirements necessary to
  support a defined population ? The total area
  represents the Ecological Footprint of that
  population, whether or not this area coincides
  with the geographical home region of the
  population.
• The EF measures the land area used per unit
  person (or population) rather than population per
  unit area (carrying capacity).

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Ecological Footprint

• The EF of a population is defined as the area of
  ecologically productive land in various classes
  cropland, pasture, forests, urban land required
  on a continuing basis to
• provide all the material/energy resources
  consumed and
• to absorb all the wastes discharged by that
  population with prevailing technology,
• wherever on Earth that land is located.

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So How big is a city?

• What is the actual area of land and water
  required by the city to sustain it and the lives
  of its inhabitants?
• The total ecosystem area that is essential to the
  city is its actual Ecological Footprint on the
  Earth.

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Land Use Categories

• Consumed Land
• Built environment, degraded lands
• Biomass Land
• Crop land, pasture land, gardens, managed forests
• Wilderness and Conservation Land
• Energy Land
• Land appropriated by fossil energy use.

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Footprints are Exclusive!

• The EF of a given population is the area used
  exclusively by that population and it is not
  available for use by other populations
• Modern cities and whole countries survive on
  ecological goods and services from all over the
  world (via commercial trade).
• These ecological regions may lie far beyond their
  political or geographic boundaries.

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Ecological Footprint Index

• The EF index is usually expressed in terms of the
  area of ecologically-productive land used per
  person by a population.

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Size of Footprints

• The Ecological Footprint of a population is
  proportional to the size of the population and
  the per capita consumption of material resources
  (including related waste discharge).

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The Global Footprint
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Earthshare

• The amount of ecologically productive land
  available per person on Earth (ignoring other
  species)
• This amounts to 1.5 ha
• Only 0.25 ha of this is arable land.
• The average North Americans footprint is about
  4-5 hectares

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Our Footprint

• The EF of a typical North American (8 ha)
  represents five-times the equal share of the
  Earths ecological resources.
• A world in which everyone imposed an oversized EF
  is not sustainable.
• The EF of humanity as a whole must be smaller
  than the ecologically productive portion of the
  planets surface.
• The entire world cannot follow the historical
  development path of North America and Europe.

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Footprints of Nations
Canada values in ha/person
For Footprints of nations
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Ecological Deficit
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Footprint of the Netherlands
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Sustainability Gap

• While the residents of the developed world enjoy
  a high standard of living, the basic needs of the
  worlds billion plus chronically poor are not
  being met.
• More material growth, at least in the poor
  countries, seems essential for socioeconomic
  sustainability.

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Ecology Gap

• However, according to Ecological Footprint
  analysis, the current level of global human
  consumption already exceeds the available
  ecological capacity of the Earth by 30.
• From this, any global increase in material and
  waste throughput seems ecologically unsustainable.

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Sustainability Challenge

• If we rely on conventional economic strategies
  and technologies to fix development problems, the
  additional material growth would further degrade
  already stressed global ecosystems.
• Sustainable development is more than simple
  economic reform.
• How can we decrease humanitys total ecological
  impact while providing adequately for the needs
  of all humankind?

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A Final Word

• The Ecological Footprint is not about how bad
  things are.
• It simply measures our essential and continuing
  dependence on nature and
• It allows us to rationally explore and examine
  ways to secure the Earths capacity to support
  human existence for all in the future.
• Ecological footprint analysis can help us to
  choose strategies wisely.

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Summary

• Conventional wisdom
• Global population cannot grow indefinitely
• Unconventional wisdom
• Material consumption cannot grow indefinitely
• Carrying capacity is limited by ecological
  resources
• Sustainability means finding an ecological
  footprint that doesnt crush global ecosystems