Ecological Footprint Information
The Ecological Footprint Calculator is a tool to determine the amount of land and sea area needed to provide the resources a person needs (food, shelter, etc.), and absorb the wastes they create (including carbon dioxide). The size of the Footprint is expressed in global hectares, i.e., hectares with world average productivity. The figure below illustrates the dimensions captured by the Ecological Footprint.
In 2006, humanity’s total Ecological Footprint worldwide was 17.1 billion global hectares (gha); with world population at 6.6 billion people, the average person’s Footprint was 2.6 global hectares. But there were only 11.9 billion gha of biocapacity (productive area) available that year, or 1.8 gha per person. This overshoot of approximately 40 percent means that in 2006 humanity used the equivalent of 1.4 Earths to support its consumption. Moderate UN scenarios suggest that if current population and consumption trends continue, by the middle of the next decade we will need the equivalent of two Earths to support us.
The fact that we are using (or “spending” natural capital) faster than it can replenish is similar to having expenditures that continually exceed income. Symptoms of this “ecological overspending” are: climate change, shrinking forests, species loss, fisheries collapse and freshwater stress.
This has important implications not only for environmental degradation but also for health. This is why Health Promotion Switzerland decided to showcase the Ecological Footprint and promote the use of the Ecological Footprint Calculator at the 2010 IUHPE World Conference.
Health Promotion Switzerland invites all conference participants to come to the HPS Booth where PC stations are available and assistance is provided to complete the Ecological Footprint Quiz and determine your Personal Footprint. Please click HERE to access the footprint calculator.
If you should miss this opportunity during the conference, please follow this link
[http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/calculators] and take the quiz at a time of your convenience. To persons for whom a calculator of their country of origin is not available we suggest to complete the quiz for a neighbouring country.
More information on the Ecological Footprint and the Footprint Calculator may be found at http://www.footprintnetwork.org.
