What is it?:
The Ecological Footprint (EF) is a measure of the amount of biological productive land and sea area are required to meet the consumption and waste production patterns of a population or human process. The EF is often compared to the available Biocapacity (BC) for the area of interest, which is a measure of the capacity of a region to product the goods and services consumed by a population or process. In 2013, the Global Footprint Network produced an EF and BC analysis for California, using 2008 data.
What can Influence or Stress Condition?:
Ecological footprint (EF) per capita depends on individuals’ consumption and waste-production rates, which are in turn related to country of origin and income. EF for a region depends on the per capita rate and the size of the population. In the US, per capita EF has been increasing steadily over the last 48 years, but the large increase in total EF for the US is mostly driven by population growth. The ratio of EF to biocapacity (BC) is a critical component of using EF to measure sustaianbility and there are many influences on BC. As natural systems have become stressed from use, their capacity to produce benefits to people has declined (e.g., global fisheries). Over-cutting of forests, over-use and erosion of croplands, over-fishing, and pollution of land and water have all contributed to stress on local, regional, and global BC. Climate change is likely to have mixed effects on natural systems, but for most systems where projections have been carried out, it likely to reduce BC. This will change the ratio of EF to BC, regardless of the size of EF.
