Living on our planet
1961
For the Asia And Pacific region, the biocapacity per person in 2008 had decreased to only two thirds of that available in 1961
A Widening Biocapacity Deficit To measure whether human demand for natural resources is balanced with what can be generated, humanity’s Ecological Footprint is compared to biocapacity, or the amount and productivity of the natural capital such as cropland, grazing land, fishing grounds, and forests that is available within a country, a region or the planet. People draw on biocapacity directly for basic survival, and countries also use the biocapacity of other countries through their imports. In Asia and the Pacific, the per capita Ecological Footprint (1.6 gha) far exceeds the per capita biocapacity (0.9 gha), leaving a biocapacity deficit of 0.8 gha per capita. Figure 7 shows the available biocapacity per country.
0-1
1-2
2-4
10-11.5
14.5-16
3-5 Figure 7: The Biocapacity Available to People of Asia and the Pacific in 2008 (data Global Footprint network)
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biocapacity gha per capita
biocapacity gha per capita
biocapacity gha per capita
biocapacity gha per capita
biocapacity gha per capita
PRC timor-leste Democratic people’s republic oF korea republic of Korea Philippines japan nepal INDIA Sri lanka bangladesh PAKISTAN singapore
LAO PDR INDONESIA VIET NAM Thailand Malaysia cambodia
Papua new guinea MALAYSIA Myanmar
New zealand
mongolia australia