Sport, Events and Tourism

What is an Ecological Footprint?

Ecological Footprint analysis was initially pioneered in the early 1990’s by Professor William Rees and Mathis Wackernagel. Following its early conceptual development, the ecological footprint has gained interest amongst academics and practitioners internationally. The starting point for the ecological footprint concept is that there is a limited amount of bioproductive land on the planet to provide for all human resource needs. Sustainable development requires that we live within the carrying capacity of the earth, allowing our economies to develop whilst still ensuring that human needs are met.

The Ecological Footprint is an aggregated indicator of global ecological impact. The footprint is measured using a standardised area unit equivalent to a world average productive hectare or ‘global hectare’ (gha) and is usually expressed in global hectares per person (gha/capita). The ecological footprint is derived for a defined population usually for one year by estimating the area of bioproductive land and sea required to support their resource consumption using prevailing technology – for example, the demands of that population in terms of their food, travel and energy use. This demand on nature can be compared with available Earth’s biocapacity which translates into an average 1.8 gha/capita in 2001 (Living Planet Report, 2004). However, humanity is currently using 2.2 gha/capita which indicates a situation of ‘overshoot’ where nature’s capital is being spent faster than it is being regenerated (Living Planet Report, 2004). Overshoot may permanently reduce the earth’s ecological ca and this is a key concern for sustainability.