Land footprint

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Land footprint is the real amount of land, wherever it is in the world, that is needed to produce a product, or used by an organisation or by a nation. [1]

Contents

Origins

Land footprint is a consumption-based indicator, i.e. it looks at the resources needed to create a final product, or by an organisation or country, wherever they are in the world. This is in contrast to production-based indicators, which just look at resource use within a country.[ citation needed ] For example, cows will require land to graze on within a country, but may also be fed by feed grown on land in another country. This production vs consumption approach is extensively discussed in greenhouse gas emissions accounting, where carbon footprint is the consumption-based indicator.[ citation needed ]

Land footprint is closely linked to a number of other concepts, including:

Ecological footprint is measured using a different approach, that looks at the biosphere from the perspective of regeneration. On the demand side, it measures regeneration in terms of area needed to provide the amount of regeneration.

Research

The International Resource Panel has produced a detailed report on land, "Assessing global land use: Balancing consumption with sustainable supply", [3] which establishes a planetary boundary for cropland, and proposes a potential safe operating space target of 0.2 ha of cropland per person per year. This is in contrast to the current EU use of cropland of around 0.31 ha per person per year.

The most detailed study of Europe's land footprint (including forestry) and how this is traded with the rest of the work was published by Sustainable European Research Institute (SERI) in 2011. [4] A briefing on this study is available from Friends of the Earth Europe. [5]

A study of Germany's land balance [6] modelled the impact of changes in diet and consumption of stimulants (e.g. coffee, wine etc.) on Germany's land balance. It found that a switch to a healthier diet, with less meat and with reduced stimulants, could lead to no net land imports, while a switch to vegetarian or vegan diets would lead to Germany being a net exporter of land.

Sustainable Europe Research Institute have also examined potential scenarios for reducing Europe's land footprint, including dietary changes. [7]

In policy

The EU's 7th Environmental action plan [8] calls for examination of land (and other) footprints:

"To set a framework for action to improve resource efficiency aspects beyond GHG emissions and energy, targets for reducing the overall lifecycle environmental impact of consumption will be set.. Indicators and targets for land, water, material and carbon footprints as well as their role within the European Semester should also be considered in this regard."

The European Parliament's own initiative report on "Resource efficiency: moving towards a circular economy", [9] which was voted on 9 July 2015, includes the following text calling for action from the European Commission on land and other footprints:

"Urges the Commission to propose, by the end of 2015, a lead indicator and a dashboard of sub-indicators on resource efficiency, including ecosystem services; points out that the use of these harmonised indicators should be legally binding as of 2018, and they should measure resource consumption, including imports and exports, at EU, Member State and industry level and take account of the whole lifecycle of products and services and should be based on the footprint methodology, measuring at least land, water and material use and carbon;"

A study of the four resource footprint indicators, carried for the European Commission [1] examined what data was available to measure the land footprint, carbon footprint, water footprint & material footprint at economy level. This study concluded that Land Footprint needed methodological improvement and harmonisation, and that a common, international, multi-regional input output database would make it easier to calculate all four footprints.

Friends of the Earth Europe, together with a wider Land Footprint Coalition, [10] has been advocating for Land Footprint to be used to measure resource consumption, as part of a wider project that argues that four footprints - land, water, carbon & material (equivalent to either RMC or TMC, see Material Flow Accounting) - are an effective way of measuring & managing Europe's resource use. [11] The coalition, which includes Slow Food Europe and Birdlife, are also calling for Europe to reduce its land footprint.

See also

Related Research Articles

The carrying capacity of an environment is the maximum population size of a biological species that can be sustained by that specific environment, given the food, habitat, water, and other resources available. The carrying capacity is defined as the environment's maximal load, which in population ecology corresponds to the population equilibrium, when the number of deaths in a population equals the number of births. The effect of carrying capacity on population dynamics is modelled with a logistic function. Carrying capacity is applied to the maximum population an environment can support in ecology, agriculture and fisheries. The term carrying capacity has been applied to a few different processes in the past before finally being applied to population limits in the 1950s. The notion of carrying capacity for humans is covered by the notion of sustainable population.

<i>I = PAT</i> Equates human impact on the environment

I = (PAT) is the mathematical notation of a formula put forward to describe the impact of human activity on the environment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Resource depletion</span> Depletion of natural organic and inorganic resources

Resource depletion is the consumption of a resource faster than it can be replenished. Natural resources are commonly divided between renewable resources and non-renewable resources. The use of either of these forms of resources beyond their rate of replacement is considered to be resource depletion. The value of a resource is a direct result of its availability in nature and the cost of extracting the resource. The more a resource is depleted the more the value of the resource increases. There are several types of resource depletion, including but not limited to: mining for fossil fuels and minerals, deforestation, pollution or contamination of resources, wetland and ecosystem degradation, soil erosion, overconsumption, aquifer depletion, and the excessive or unnecessary use of resources. Resource depletion is most commonly used in reference to farming, fishing, mining, water usage, and the consumption of fossil fuels. Depletion of wildlife populations is called defaunation.

The ecological footprint measures human demand on natural capital, i.e. the quantity of nature it takes to support people and their economies. It tracks human demand on nature through an ecological accounting system. The accounts contrast the biologically productive area people use to satisfy their consumption to the biologically productive area available within a region, nation, or the world (biocapacity). Biocapacity is the productive area that can regenerate what people demand from nature. Therefore, the metric is a measure of human impact on the environment. As Ecological Footprint accounts measure to what extent human activities operate within the means of our planet, they are a central metric for sustainability.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carbon footprint</span> Concept to quantify greenhouse gas emissions from activities or products

A carbon footprint (or greenhouse gas footprint) is a calculated value or index that makes it possible to compare the total amount of greenhouse gases that an activity, product, company or country adds to the atmosphere. Carbon footprints are usually reported in tonnes of emissions (CO2-equivalent) per unit of comparison. Such units can be for example tonnes CO2-eq per year, per kilogram of protein for consumption, per kilometer travelled, per piece of clothing and so forth. A product's carbon footprint includes the emissions for the entire life cycle. These run from the production along the supply chain to its final consumption and disposal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Food miles</span> Distance food is transported from production to consumption

Food miles is the distance food is transported from the time of its making until it reaches the consumer. Food miles are one factor used when testing the environmental impact of food, such as the carbon footprint of the food.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Environmental vegetarianism</span> Type of practice of vegetarianism

Environmental vegetarianism is the practice of vegetarianism that is motivated by the desire to create a sustainable diet, which avoids the negative environmental impact of meat production. Livestock as a whole is estimated to be responsible for around 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions. As a result, significant reduction in meat consumption has been advocated by, among others, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in their 2019 special report and as part of the 2017 World Scientists' Warning to Humanity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sustainable forest management</span> Management of forests according to the principles of sustainable development

Sustainable forest management (SFM) is the management of forests according to the principles of sustainable development. Sustainable forest management must keep a balance between the three main pillars: ecological, economic and socio-cultural. The goal of sustainable forestry is to allow for a balance to be found between making use of trees while maintaining natural patterns of disturbance and regeneration. The forestry industry mitigates climate change by boosting carbon storage in growing trees and soils and improving the sustainable supply of renewable raw materials via sustainable forest management.

The global hectare (gha) is a measurement unit for the ecological footprint of people or activities and the biocapacity of the Earth or its regions. One global hectare is the world's annual amount of biological production for human use and human waste assimilation, per hectare of biologically productive land and fisheries.

Design impact measures are measures used to qualify projects for various environmental rating systems and to guide both design and regulatory decisions from beginning to end. Some systems, like the greenhouse gas inventory, are required globally for all business decisions. Some are project-specific, like the LEED point rating system which is used only for its own ratings, and its qualifications do not correspond to much beyond physical measurements. Others like the Athena life-cycle impact assessment tool attempt to add up all the kinds of measurable impacts of all parts of a building throughout its life and are quite rigorous and complex.

This is a glossary of environmental science.

Sustainability metrics and indices are measures of sustainability, using numbers to quantify environmental, social and economic aspects of the world. There are multiple perspectives on how to measure sustainability as there is no universal standard. Intead, different disciplines and international organizations have offered measures or indicators of how to measure the concept.

Sustainable consumption is the use of products and services in ways that minimizes impacts on the environment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Water footprint</span> Extent of water use in relation to consumption by people

A water footprint shows the extent of water use in relation to consumption by people. The water footprint of an individual, community, or business is defined as the total volume of fresh water used to produce the goods and services consumed by the individual or community or produced by the business. Water use is measured in water volume consumed (evaporated) and/or polluted per unit of time. A water footprint can be calculated for any well-defined group of consumers or producers, for a single process or for any product or service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earth Overshoot Day</span> Calculated calendar date when humanitys yearly consumption exceeds Earths replenishment

Earth Overshoot Day (EOD) is the calculated illustrative calendar date on which humanity's resource consumption for the year exceeds Earth’s capacity to regenerate those resources that year. The term "overshoot" represents the level by which human population's demand overshoots the sustainable amount of biological resources regenerated on Earth. When viewed through an economic perspective, the annual EOD represents the day by which the planet's annual regenerative budget is spent, and humanity enters environmental deficit spending. EOD is calculated by dividing the world biocapacity, by the world ecological footprint, and multiplying by 365, the number of days in a year:

The biocapacity or biological capacity of an ecosystem is an estimate of its production of certain biological materials such as natural resources, and its absorption and filtering of other materials such as carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Resource efficiency</span>

Resource efficiency is the maximising of the supply of money, materials, staff, and other assets that can be drawn on by a person or organization in order to function effectively, with minimum wasted (natural) resource expenses. It means using the Earth's limited resources in a sustainable manner while minimising environmental impact.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ecological overshoot</span> Demands on ecosystem exceeding regeneration

Ecological overshoot is the phenomenon which occurs when the demands made on a natural ecosystem exceed its regenerative capacity. Global ecological overshoot occurs when the demands made by humanity exceed what the biosphere of Earth can provide through its capacity for renewal.

Stefan Bringezu is a German environmental scientist. He has conducted pioneering research in the field of material flow analysis and derived policy-relevant indicators of resource use, which contributed to statistical standards in the EU, OECD, and UNEP and environmental footprinting across scales. He had been selected as inaugural member of the International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management and lead-coordinated in three of their reports. He was scientific director of the Center for Environmental Systems Research at Kassel University, Germany.

References

  1. 1 2 Giljum, S., Lutter, S., Bruckner, M., Aparcana, S., Heinke, J., Gerten, D. et al. (2013, May 3). State-of-Play of National Consumption-Based Indicators: A review and evaluation of available methods and data to calculate footprint-type (consumption-based) indicators for materials, water, land and carbon. Vienna: Sustainable Europe Research Institute.
  2. ↑ Borgstrom, Georg (1965). The hungry planet: the modern world at the edge of famine - Georg Borgström - Google Books . Retrieved 2014-02-25.
  3. 1 2 International Resource Panel. (2014). Assessing global land use: Balancing consumption with sustainable supply.
  4. ↑ Sustainable Europe Research Institute. (2011). Europe’s global land demand: A study on the actual land embodied in European imports and exports of agriculture and forestry products. http://seri.at/en/global-responsibility/2011/10/19/europes-global-land-demand-a-study-on-the-actual-land-embodied-in-european-imports-and-exports-of-agricultural-and-forestry-products/
  5. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-05-31. Retrieved 2014-02-24.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. ↑ Meier, T., Christen, O., Semler, E., Jahreis, G., Voget-Kleschin, L., Schrode, A. et al. (2013). Balancing virtual land imports by a shift in the diet. Using a land balance approach to assess the sustainability of food consumption. Germany as an example. Appetite, 74C, 20-34.
  7. ↑ Giljum, Stefan; Wieland, Hanspeter; Bruckner, Martin; de Schutter, Liesbeth; Giesecke, Katharina (28 October 2013). "LAND FOOTPRINT SCENARIOS. A discussion paper including a literature review and scenario analysis on the land use related to changes in Europe's consumption patterns" (PDF). www.foeeurope.org. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
  8. ↑ "EUR-Lex - 32013D1386 - EN". Eur-lex.europa.eu. Retrieved 2014-02-25.
  9. ↑ European Parliament (9 July 2015). "European Parliament resolution of 9 July 2015 on resource efficiency: moving towards a circular economy" . Retrieved 29 July 2015.
  10. ↑ "Groups unite to call for Europe to cut its use of world's land | Friends of the Earth Europe". Foeeurope.org. 2013-03-18. Retrieved 2014-02-25.
  11. ↑ "Measuring Europes resource use" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-11-01. Retrieved 2014-02-24.
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