One of the most important parameters to evaluate the environmental impact of an activity is that of ecological footprint. It is a parameter that has been used for relatively a few years and that, little by little, is consolidating both in the academic world and among the general population. This concept arose trying to have a measure, which like the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), can inform us about the environmental impact of a specific activity.
In this Ecology Verde article What is the ecological footprint and how it is calculatedso you can find out what it is.
What is the ecological footprint
The ecological footprint allows us andvalue the impact that a concrete activity on our environment has compared to the ability of the environment and thus be able to define whether an activity is sustainable or not. For this, an ecologically productive land area is taken, such as a crop, pastures, forests or any ecosystem, which would be necessary to produce all the resources sought and to assimilate the waste that is generated by that activity during the time.
It also takes into account energy issues, for example in a forest the number of hectares that are needed to assume the CO2 that produces the energy consumption of that activity carried out are determined. In addition, the used energy class is taken into account, if, for example, renewable energies (wind energy, solar, …) are used, the ecological footprint will be less than using other energy sources.
At the moment, More resources are consumed and more waste is produced than the planet’s biocapacity to assimilate them, so you must take measures to reduce this ecological footprint.
What is the ecological footprint for
The primary objective is know if a certain area of the planet could support a specific productive process and assimilate the waste generated in time, without causing damage to the environment. One of the advantages of the ecological footprint is that sometimes it allows you to obtain concrete indicators and make comparisons between them and with other means, very important to evaluate environmental damage.
Without realizing, in our daily life we carry out many activities, such as buying products or services, traveling by plane or car or consuming energy that has an impact on our environment and that this medium must assimilate that impact. That is why the ecological footprint is so important, because our environment is not infinite, and one day it can be damaged.
How to calculate the ecological footprint
When determining the ecological footprint we must take into account some factors as:
- Population growth.
- The fertile soil surface.
- Deforestation.
- The exhaustion of resources.
- The increase in consumption.
The calculation of the ecological footprint is like this:
- The study size is calculated: if the ecological footprint of an individual, a family, a city or a country is going to be studied.
- It is calculated how much energy, food, raw materials and soil that population will consume in the activity carried out. The land surface is difficult to calculate, so standardized tables are used.
- All surfaces are added and the result is divided by the total of the selected population.
When performing the analysis, it is seen that the inhabitants of a certain countries have more surface to carry out their activities. This corresponds to countries with a minor ecological footprint and future generations. This is because they are appropriating land outside their territory or that correspond to future generations.
The reality of the analysis is that the total ecological footprint of the planet exceeds its capacity for assimilation by 30%. This warns us of the rhythm of rapid consumption of resources and its distribution, so it is necessary to take measures to reduce it.
The ecological footprint in Spain
According to the analysis, the Ecological footprint in Spain exceeds 2.6% to its biocapacity. This means that to maintain our standard of living and the current population, we would need about three Spain. The analyzes also show that in about fifteen years, our ecological deficit increased by 50% and the trend remains to the increase.
In Spain, for example, each person consumes the equivalent of 3.8 hectares when the load capacity of our territory is 1.4. That is, there is a deficit of 2.4 hectares or each borrowed 24,000 m2 of land from other countries.
Now that you know better what the ecological footprint is, what it is for and how it is calculated, we recommend you read this other article on how to reduce the ecological footprint.
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