The “ecological footprint” is a tool that measures your personal contribution to the human consumption of resources of the Earth. This footprint can be expressed in terms of how much land is used by your activities. The ecological footprint measures the consumption of resources of a person, a state or of the whole human community. A footprint is considered sustainable when the amount of resources consumed and the amount of pollution produced in one year equals the amount that the Earth can produce, regenerate and respectively absorb in one year.
Currently the ecological footprint of the entire human population in terms of land cover is estimated by some at about one and half times the size of planet Earth. Expressed in terms of time this means that Earth will need one and half years to produce the amount of resources, and to absorb the amount of pollution that is consumed and produced by us in one year.
A constant and long term overuse of our planet’s resources will lead to the loss of biodiversity, to food, water and energy scarcity, and to an increased vulnerability to environmental and climatic catastrophes and progressing climate change.
The UNCCD Capacity Building Marketplace has prepared a list of calculators and readings below, for you to assess your own consumption. By reading the materials and calculator provided, you will be able to explore in depth the issues of land use, food production and the connected use and overuse of resources.
Do you know your land footprint?
Every product comes from the land in one way or another. This consumption of land is often called “virtual land” because it is not visible in the final product, even though a lot of resources are used in the production. Project REdUSE calculated the land footprint of many products. The land footprint of one bicycle is 3.4m2. The land footprint of 1 kg of beef is 22m2.
Calculate your own footprint
The Global Footprint network offers you a footprint calculator which allows you to see your national and personal footprint, depending on your country of residence. The calculator is based on the National Footprint Accounts data for selected nations. In addition to food there are also other categories that can be assessed for impact, such as shelter, mobility, goods and services. This calculator is aligned with the international Ecological Footprint standards which were adopted in 2006 by the Standards Committee and its partner organizations, in order to ensure that footprint studies are both credible and consistent. More about the methodology used can be found on their website.
Another calculator offered is the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) footprint calculator, which assesses the footprint for food, home, personal stuff (like appliances and gadgets) and travel choices. It shows the footprints in terms of the number of planets used. The calculator starts with a very comprehensive chart and infographics explaining the issue of ecological footprint, and then proceeds to a quiz upon which you can see what that footprint would amount to, if everybody would be consuming at the same rate.
Other related resources
If you are looking for more resources and reading materials regarding the issue of environmental footprint and the impact of consumption on land, water, CO2 release and other indicators, please find more materials here:
- Soil Atlas: Facts and figures about Earth, land and fields
- The land in numbers
- Towards a definition of global sustainable land use
- Governance screening of global land use
- Urban food systems and global sustainable land use
- Global sustainable land use
- Global land use analysis
Exhibition in Bonn, Germany
As part the events to celebrate the World Day to Combat Desertification (WDCD) on the 17th of June 2015, the UNCCD Capacity Building Marketplace is organizing an exhibition in Bonn, Germany at the University’s Nassestrasse food canteen to demonstrate and visualize the environmental impact and cost for the production of the food you are eating.
Read this article onlineThe “ecological footprint” is a tool that measures your personal contribution to the human consumption of resources of the Earth. This footprint can be expressed in terms of how much land is used by your activities. The ecological footprint measures the consumption of resources of a person, a state or of the whole human community. A footprint is considered sustainable when the amount of resources consumed and the amount of pollution produced in one year equals the amount that the Earth can produce, regenerate and respectively absorb in one year.
Currently the ecological footprint of the entire human population in terms of land cover is estimated by some at about one and half times the size of planet Earth. Expressed in terms of time this means that Earth will need one and half years to produce the amount of resources, and to absorb the amount of pollution that is consumed and produced by us in one year.
A constant and long term overuse of our planet’s resources will lead to the loss of biodiversity, to food, water and energy scarcity, and to an increased vulnerability to environmental and climatic catastrophes and progressing climate change.
The UNCCD Capacity Building Marketplace has prepared a list of calculators and readings below, for you to assess your own consumption. By reading the materials and calculator provided, you will be able to explore in depth the issues of land use, food production and the connected use and overuse of resources.
Do you know your land footprint?
Every product comes from the land in one way or another. This consumption of land is often called “virtual land” because it is not visible in the final product, even though a lot of resources are used in the production. Project REdUSE calculated the land footprint of many products. The land footprint of one bicycle is 3.4m2. The land footprint of 1 kg of beef is 22m2.
Calculate your own footprint
The Global Footprint network offers you a footprint calculator which allows you to see your national and personal footprint, depending on your country of residence. The calculator is based on the National Footprint Accounts data for selected nations. In addition to food there are also other categories that can be assessed for impact, such as shelter, mobility, goods and services. This calculator is aligned with the international Ecological Footprint standards which were adopted in 2006 by the Standards Committee and its partner organizations, in order to ensure that footprint studies are both credible and consistent. More about the methodology used can be found on their website.
Another calculator offered is the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) footprint calculator, which assesses the footprint for food, home, personal stuff (like appliances and gadgets) and travel choices. It shows the footprints in terms of the number of planets used. The calculator starts with a very comprehensive chart and infographics explaining the issue of ecological footprint, and then proceeds to a quiz upon which you can see what that footprint would amount to, if everybody would be consuming at the same rate.
Other related resources
If you are looking for more resources and reading materials regarding the issue of environmental footprint and the impact of consumption on land, water, CO2 release and other indicators, please find more materials here:
- Soil Atlas: Facts and figures about Earth, land and fields
- The land in numbers
- Towards a definition of global sustainable land use
- Governance screening of global land use
- Urban food systems and global sustainable land use
- Global sustainable land use
- Global land use analysis
Exhibition in Bonn, Germany
As part the events to celebrate the World Day to Combat Desertification (WDCD) on the 17th of June 2015, the UNCCD Capacity Building Marketplace is organizing an exhibition in Bonn, Germany at the University’s Nassestrasse food canteen to demonstrate and visualize the environmental impact and cost for the production of the food you are eating.