What Is Ecological Footprint?

Ecological footprint is a method of gauging humans’ dependence on natural resources by

calculating how much of the environment is needed to sustain a particular lifestyle. In other
words, it measures the demand vs. the supply of nature.

The ecological footprint is one way of measuring sustainability, which refers to the ability of a
population to support itself in the present without compromising that ability for the future.
Environmental sustainability occurs when a population can support a particular lifestyle
indefinitely while still meeting the demands placed on an environment. An example of
environmental sustainability is producing an amount of pollution that the environment can
handle.

Key Takeaways: Ecological Footprint

 One way of measuring sustainability is the ecological footprint, which is a method of
gauging humans’ dependence on natural resources. It calculates how much of the
environment is needed to sustain a particular lifestyle.

 The ecological footprint can be calculated for different populations, including

individuals, cities, regions, countries, or the entire planet. You can even calculate your
personal ecological footprint.
  The units for ecological footprint are global hectares (gha), which measure the amount
of biologically productive land with a productivity equal to the world average.

 An area is considered unsustainable if a land’s ecological footprint is greater than its

biocapacity (if its demand of nature is greater than its supply).

Ecological Footprint Definition

More specifically, the ecological footprint measures the amount of “biologically productive”
land or water that enables the population to sustain itself. This measurement takes into
account the resources a population needs to (1) produce goods and (2) “assimilate,” or clean
up, its waste. Biologically productive land and water can include arable land, pastures, and
parts of the sea that contain marine life.

The units for ecological footprint are global hectares (gha), which measure the amount of
biologically productive land with a productivity equal to the world average. This land area is
measured in terms of hectares, which each represent 10,000 square meters (or 2.47 acres) of
land.

For some perspective, some ecological footprints of several countries are listed below. These
values were listed for the year 2014 in the Global Footprint Network's Open Data Platform:

 United States: 8.4 gha/person

 Russia: 5.6 gha/person
 Switzerland: 4.9 gha/person
 Japan: 4.8 gha/person
 France: 4.7 gha/person
 China: 3.7 gha/person
Note that ecological footprints can be counterbalanced by biocapacity, which refers to the
ability of a biologically productive area to continuously generate renewable resources and clean
up its wastes. An area is considered unsustainable if a land’s ecological footprint is greater than
its biocapacity.

Ecological vs. Carbon Footprint

Ecological footprints and carbon footprints are both ways of measuring something’s impact on
the environment. However, a carbon footprint measures the total amount of greenhouse gas
emissions caused by an individual, organization, or activity. A carbon footprint is measured in
units of carbon dioxide equivalents, which quantifies how much a certain amount of a
greenhouse gas would impact global warming in reference to carbon dioxide.
The carbon footprint thus concentrates on activities that would be related to greenhouse gas
emissions, rather than considering an entire lifestyle as might be the case for calculating an
ecological footprint. A carbon footprint would be used, for example, to determine the impact
that burning fossil fuels or consuming electricity would have on the environment.