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A simplified ecological footprint at a regional scale
Matthew E Hopton1, Denis White
1United States Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, National Risk Management Research Laboratory, Sustainable Technology Division, Sustainable Environments Branch, Cincinnati, OH 45268, USA. Hopton.Matthew@epa.gov
Journal of Environmental Management
|October 29, 2011
Summary
Ecological Footprint Analysis in southern Colorado shows decreasing per capita biocapacity due to population growth, despite a stable ecological footprint, indicating a trend away from sustainability. This highlights the impact of increased demand on fixed resources.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Science
- Sustainability Studies
- Regional Ecological Analysis
Background:
- Ecological Footprint Analysis (EFA) quantifies human impact by measuring biologically productive land needed for consumption and waste.
- EFA is a key metric for sustainability assessment due to its conceptual clarity and straightforward calculation.
- Regional-scale data collection for EFA presents challenges due to data availability at national/state levels and infrequent intervals.
Purpose of the Study:
- To calculate a time-dependent Ecological Footprint Analysis (EFA) for a region in southern Colorado from 1980 to 2005.
- To assess the trend in the region's sustainability by analyzing changes in biocapacity and ecological footprint per capita.
- To demonstrate a simplified methodology for regional EFA using accessible data.
Main Methods:
- Collected 35 variables from 1980-2005 for a southern Colorado region.
- Employed linear interpolation for missing data and scaled state/national data to the region where county-level data was unavailable.
- Calculated a time-dependent EFA and visually examined the resulting trends.
Main Results:
- Available biocapacity in the region remained stable, but per capita biocapacity decreased from ~41 ha/ca in 1980 to ~31 ha/ca in 2005 due to population growth.
- The ecological footprint per capita remained relatively constant, fluctuating between 5.1 and 5.5 ha/ca over the 26-year period.
- The combination of a stable footprint and declining biocapacity signifies a decreasing ecological reserve and a move away from sustainability.
Conclusions:
- Despite stable per capita consumption, population increase strains fixed resources, leading to reduced ecological reserves and sustainability.
- The simplified EFA methodology, while not adhering to all emerging standards, provides actionable insights for stakeholders to improve regional sustainability.
- Further investigation into substituting national data with regional data is recommended for more accurate sub-national EFA, especially in diverse countries like the US.
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