Eco-footprint and Eco-budget
The ecological footprint is a comprehensive account of the resources consumed by a population, measuring the balance between human demand and nature’s supply. It estimates how much productive land and sea, expressed as global hectares (gha), is needed to provide the energy, food and materials we use in our everyday lives as well as how much land is required to absorb our waste.
The biological capacity (available supply) of the earth is approximately 11.3 billion global hectares. The productive area of the biosphere translates into an average of 1.8 gha per person – known as our ‘fair share’. The world average eco-footprint is currently 2.2 gha.
The UK has an average ecological footprint of 5.36 gha, the highest regional score being found in the South East with 6.29 gha and the lowest in Wales with 5.20 gha. The South West’s eco-footprint is 5.24 gha, although this may be the 2nd lowest in the UK it is still well above the world average and our 'fair share' (WWF, 2006).
A breakdown of the South West’s ecological footprint shows that ‘home and energy’ and ‘food’ are the largest contributors to the region’s footprint, at 1.15 global hectares per capita (gha/cap) (22%) and 1.07 gha/cap (20%) respectively. This is roughly consistent with the UK trend average. Travel is also a large contributor to our footprint in the region, accounting for 0.91 gha/cap (17%) this is above the UK average of 0.84 gha/cap (WWF, 2006).
As can be seen in the map below, ecological footprints vary across the region. East Dorset had the highest eco-footprint with 5.47 gha/cap, whilst the lowest was in Plymouth with 5 gha/cap.
At present the South West’s Ecological Footprint of 5.24 gha shows that if everyone on the planet consumed natural resources and energy like the average South West resident we would need three planets to support us. This is clearly above our fair share of 1.8 gha and shows that we are currently living beyond environmental limits.
More information about ecological footprints is available from the South West Observatory Environment website. Lifestyle changes and wiser use of natural resources are also indicators used to monitor progress of the Regional Environment Strategy.