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Focal Area: Sustainable Use
Headline Indictor: Ecological footprint and related concepts
Key Indicator Partner: 
Data Available: Global, regional and national time series, 1961 onwards Development Status: Ready for global and national use
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Direct anthropogenic threats to biodiversity include habitat loss or damage, overexploitation, pollution, invasive species and climate change. These direct threats are the result of more distant, indirect drivers of biodiversity loss arising from consumption of resources and the generation of wastes. The ultimate drivers of threats to biodiversity are human demands for food, fibre and timber, water, energy and area on which to build infrastructure. As the human population and global economy grow, so do the pressures on biodiversity. The Ecological Footprint measures the demands that our use of ecological assets places on the regenerative capacity of productive ecosystems. Understanding the linkages and interactions between biodiversity, the drivers of biodiversity loss and the Ecological Footprint is fundamental to slowing, halting and reversing the ongoing declines in natural ecosystems and populations of wild species.
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The Ecological Footprint measures humanity’s demand on the biosphere in terms of the area of biologically productive land and water required to provide the resources we use and to absorb our carbon dioxide emissions. This area is reported in global hectares (gha) – hectares with world average productivity. The Footprint of a country includes all the cropland, grazing land, forest and fishing grounds required to produce the food, fibre and timber it consumes, the carbon uptake land needed to absorb the carbon dioxide emitted in generating the energy it uses, and the builtup land required to provide space for its infrastructure—regardless of where these areas are located on the planet. National footprint accounts are derived from internally recognized sources, such as the UN-FAO, and go back to 1961. To see if ecological limits are being exceeded, the Ecological Footprint can be compared with biocapacity, the amount of biologically productive area that is available to provide resources and absorb waste. In the mid-1980s, humanity’s global Footprint began to overshoot global biocapacity, and by 2006 this excess was approximately 44 percent. Global Footprint Network releases updated National Footprint Accounts each year, and biennially publishes summary results in WWF’s Living Planet Reports. Descriptions of the methodology and additional data are available at www.footprintnetwork.org.
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Ecological Footprints can be calculated at any scale--for humanity as a whole, or for regions, individual countries, individuals, organizations, or even products.
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通过各个成分组成的人类生态足印，1961年-2006年
资料来源：全球足印网络
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| How to Interpret the Indicator
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An increase in Ecological Footprint represents an increase in humanity’s demand on the biosphere, which in turn equates to increased pressure on biodiversity and a greater risk of biodiversity loss. If the Ecological Footprint exceeds biocapacity, then a minimum condition for sustainable consumption is not being met. This means ecosystem stocks are being depleted, and/or emissions are accumulating in the atmosphere and oceans. When this is the case, competition for biological resources and quantitative or qualitative reductions in area for biodiversity will result in biodiversity loss. A reduction in the Ecological Footprint, and especially the elimination of overshoot, would indicate reduced pressure on the world’s biological resources and a lower risk of biodiversity loss.
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‘Human demand on ecological assets has constantly increased in the period 1961-2006. Demanding almost 50% of the planet’s regenerative capacity in 1961, humans now demand 144% of this capacity - the equivalent of 1.4 planets worth of resources and ecological services. Resource and ecological service demands have increased for all land types, although demand from forest and carbon uptake land has increased fastest. Differences in Footprint values can be also found at regional level as per capita consumption values are highest in North America (8.7 gha/capita) and Europe (4.5), and lowest in Africa (1.4) and Asia-Pacific (1.5).’
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Ecological Footprint and biocapacity values have been published for more than 200 nations as part of the National Footprint Accounts produced by Global Footprint Network. In 2005, Global Footprint Network launched its Ten-in-Ten campaign, with the aim of having ten national governments adopting the Ecological Footprint by 2015. Since then, more than 35 nations have engaged with the organization directly. 17 nations have completed reviews of the Footprint and 7 nations have formally adopted it. The ultimate goal is for nations to use the Footprint framework to shift policies and investments. Two governments are currently using the Ecological Footprint as a policy/decision making tool for accounting resource consumption and pressure generation: the United Arab Emirates are working on the development of a Footprint scenario tool to assist in the development of science-based policies while Ecuador has become the first country to set a specific Footprint reduction target into its National Development Plan (Footprint will be within its biocapacity by 2013). For more information on the ten-in-ten campaign visit the Global Footprint Network website: www.footprintnetwork.org.
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Research by Global Footprint Network to improve the science and methodology of the indicator is focusing on:
• Equivalence factors, which convert different land types into global hectares.
• Demand on fisheries.
• National Consumption Land Use Matrices, which disaggregate demand by final consumption category.
• Footprint intensities of traded commodities.
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| Africa Factbook Prototype | English |
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| Calculation Methodology for the National Footprint Accounts, 2008 Edition (Global Footprint Network 2008) | English |
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| Guidebook to the 2008 National Footprint Accounts (Global Footprint Network 2008) | English |
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| The Ecological Footprint Atlas 2008. Version 1.0. (Global Footprint Network 2008) | English |
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| Living Planet Report 2008 (WWF, Global Footprint Network & ZSL 2008) | English |
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| Informe Planeta Vivo 2008 (WWF, Global Footprint Network & ZSL 2008) | Español |
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| Rapports Planéte Vivante 2008 (WWF, Global Footprint Network & ZSL 2008) | Français |
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| Ж И В А Я П Л А Н Е Т А – 2 0 0 8 (WWF, Global Footprint Network & ZSL 2008) | русский язык |
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| 地球生命力报告 2 0 0 8 (WWF, Global Footprint Network & ZSL 2008) | 中文 |
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| Living Planet Report 2008 (WWF, Global Footprint Network & ZSL 2008 ) | Italia |
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| Living Planet Report 2008 (WWF, Global Footprint Network & ZSL 2008) | Deutsch |
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| Living Planet Report 2008 (WWF, Global Footprint Network & ZSL 2008) | Nederlands |
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| 2010 and Beyond: Rising to the biodiversity challenge (WWF, ZSL & Global Footprint Network 2008) | English |
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| India's Ecological Footprint: A Business Perspective (Global Footprint Network & CII 2008) | English |
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| Hong Kong Ecological Footprint Report 2008 (WWF & Global Footprint Network 2008) | English |
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| Report on Ecological Footprint in China (Global Footprint Network, CCICED & WWF 2008) | English |
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| 中国生态足迹报告 (Global Footprint Network, CCICED & WWF, 2008) | 中文 |
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| Rapporto Sull’Impronta Ecologica Della Cina (Global Footprint Network, CCICED & WWF, 2008) | Italia |
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| Africa: Ecological Footprint and Human Well-Being (Global Footprint Network & WWF 2008) | English |
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| L’afrique: Empreinte Écologique et bien – être humain (Global Footprint Network & WWF 2008) | Français |
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| Africa: Impronta ecologica e benessere umano (Global Footprint Network & WWF 2008) | Italia |
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| Canada Living Planet Report 2007 (WWF, ZSL & Global Footprint Network 2007) | English |
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