2016 Global Ecological Footprint

# Context

The ecological footprint measures the ecological assets that a given population requires to produce the natural resources it consumes (including plant-based food and fiber products, livestock and fish products, timber and other forest products, space for urban infrastructure) and to absorb its waste, especially carbon emissions. The footprint tracks the use of six categories of productive surface areas: cropland, grazing land, fishing grounds, built-up (or urban) land, forest area, and carbon demand on land.

A nation’s biocapacity represents the productivity of its ecological assets, including cropland, grazing land, forest land, fishing grounds, and built-up land. These areas, especially if left unharvested, can also absorb much of the waste we generate, especially our carbon emissions.

Both the ecological footprint and biocapacity are expressed in global hectares — globally comparable, standardized hectares with world average productivity.

If a population’s ecological footprint exceeds the region’s biocapacity, that region runs an ecological deficit. Its demand for the goods and services that its land and seas can provide — fruits and vegetables, meat, fish, wood, cotton for clothing, and carbon dioxide absorption — exceeds what the region’s ecosystems can renew. A region in ecological deficit meets demand by importing, liquidating its own ecological assets (such as overfishing), and/or emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. If a region’s biocapacity exceeds its ecological footprint, it has an ecological reserve.

# Acknowledgements

The ecological footprint measure was conceived by Mathis Wackernagel and William Rees at the University of British Columbia. Ecological footprint data was provided by the Global Footprint Network.

# Inspiration

Is your country running an ecological deficit, consuming more resources than it can produce per year? Which countries have the greatest ecological deficits or reserves? Do they consume less or produce more than the average country? When will Earth Overshoot Day, the day on the calendar when humanity has used one year of natural resources, occur in 2017?

生态足迹衡量的是特定人口为了生产其消耗的自然资源（包括基于植物的食品和纤维产品、牲畜和鱼类产品、木材和其他森林产品、城市基础设施的空间）以及吸收其废弃物（尤其是碳排放）所需的生态资产。生态足迹追踪了六类生产性地表面积的使用情况：耕地、牧场、渔场、建成（或城市）用地、森林面积以及对土地的碳需求。一个国家的生物承载力代表着其生态资产的生产力，包括耕地、牧场、森林用地、渔场和建成用地。这些区域，特别是未经收获时，也能吸收我们产生的大量废弃物，尤其是我们的碳排放。生态足迹和生物承载力均以全球公顷为单位表达——全球可比、标准化公顷，具有世界平均生产力。如果一个群体的生态足迹超过了该地区的生物承载力，该地区将出现生态赤字。其对土地和海洋所能提供的商品和服务（如水果和蔬菜、肉类、鱼类、木材、棉布以及二氧化碳吸收）的需求超过了该地区生态系统可以更新的能力。生态赤字地区通过进口、清算其自身的生态资产（如过度捕鱼）和/或将二氧化碳排放到大气中以满足需求。如果一个地区的生物承载力超过了其生态足迹，它将拥有生态储备。