INTRODUCTION
The Global Result In 2006, humanity’s total Ecological Footprint was 17.1 billion global hectares (gha), or 2.6 gha per capita. In that same year, the Earth had a total biocapacity of 11.9 billion gha (1.8 gha per capita). Humanity’s demand first exceeded the Earth’s capacity to meet it around 1980. In 2006, the ecological overshoot was 44 percent, meaning that it took the Earth the equivalent of one year and 5 months to regenerate the resources used and assimilate the wastes produced.
17.1
11.9
Ecological Footprint
Biocapacity
billion global hectares
billion global hectares
The Global Results
Humanity’s total Ecological Footprint is much larger than the available biocapacity
10
Figure 2. The Ecological Footprint of countries Built-up Land
Global hectares per capita
8
Forest Land
Japan
Fishing Ground Grazing Land
6
Cropland Carbon Footprint
4
2
United Arab Emirates United States Ireland Kuwait New Zealand Denmark Estonia United Kingdom Canada Greece Belgium Spain Switzerland Finland Israel Czech Republic Slovakia Italy Austria Netherlands France Latvia Singapore Russia Kazakhstan Portugal Belarus Norway Japan Germany Poland Slovenia Botswana Turkmenistan Korea, South Fiji Oman Saudi Arabia Bosnia\Herzegovina Paraguay Croatia Lithuania Bulgaria Mexico Hungary Panama Libya Mauritania Chile Argentina Namibia Turkey South Africa Costa Rica Romania Ukraine Iran Albania Bolivia
0
009
Source: Global Footprint Network, The Ecological Footprint Atlas, 2008.