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Text by Andreas Willfors
Erik Grönlund
Text by Andreas Willfors
On Thursday, 24 October 2013, Erik Grönlund, a researcher at the Ekoteknik research group, presented about Ecological footprints as an analytical tool for sustainability. The method has become widespread during the last 15 years. At first it was heavily criticised, which lead to further development and standardization by Global Footprint Network. At the same time several other methods named “footprint” have emerged, many could be found on the internet, but may give diverse results.
Ecological footprint analyzes the use of land and water resources for production and absorption of waste, in relation to the ability of the environment to cope with these pressures. The result is the land area required to support a person's lifestyle. It accounts for direct and indirect consumption and import and can be calculated for a nation or a region. The term "biocapacity" means the given area times the bioproductivity. This is making up the supply side of a region, while the demand side is the ecological footprint. Exceeding the biocapacity is called overshooting, which today occurs globally and risks to damage ecosystems.
There are some limitations to the method. The calculations are very rough and freshwater use is excluded. But the method is an easy way to communicate environmental impact and to show the consumption in relation to what is available. The result when calculating the area required to sustain our current lifestyle is that we need approximately 1,5 Earths. Ecological footprint tends to increase with increased human development. The challenge for developing countries is to increase their living standard without increasing their ecological footprint.
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| Ph.D Grönlund introducing his topic. |