The Ecological Footprint of the State and City of São Paulo
São Paulo state and city - Biocapacities Biocapacity is the counterpart of the Ecological Footprint. While the Ecological Footprint measures the amount of ecological resources that the population of a given region consumes, Biocapacity measures the amount of ecological resources that same region produces. In the present study we determined the biocapacities of the state of São Paulo and of its capital city. When we compare the Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity of a region we can find out whether it is a debtor or a creditor in regard to ecological resources (Figure 29)
4,38
Brazil
Stado of São Paulo
City of São Paulo
Biocapacity World
In a similar way to the Ecological Footprint, Biocapacity is expressed in global hectares per person (gha/cap). Thus we take the total Biocapacity of a region and divide it by the number of inhabitants. Obviously regions with a very high population density like the state and city of São Paulo will have a very low Biocapacity. Brazil is one of the world’s greatest ecological creditors and in that context, the forests are the greatest natural capital answering for 75% of Brazil’s total Biocapacity (Figure 29). The average productivity of Brazilian forests is 110% higher than average productivity of the world’s forests, which means that each hectare of Brazilian forest is the equivalent of 2.65 global
The Ecological Footprints of São Paulo – State and Capital 2012 p.
76
Legend Ecological Footprint
0,04
1,34
1,8
2,7
3,52
2,93
9,63
Figure 29: Comparison between Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity (gha/cap)